Visually impaired persons can't be denied chance to join judiciary: SC

In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court on Monday held that visually impaired persons cannot be denied opportunity of employment in judicial services.

A bench comprising justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan had reserved the judgement on six petitions, including a suo motu (on its own) case, on December 3, last year over non-grant of quota to such candidates in judicial services in a few states.

Pronouncing the verdict, Justice Mahadevan said that persons with disabilities must not face any discrimination in their pursuit of judicial service recruitments and that the State must provide them affirmative action to ensure an inclusive framework.

"Any indirect discrimination that results in the exclusion of persons with disabilities, whether through cutoff or procedural barriers must be interfered with in order to uphold substantive equality," the judge said.

The judgement said no candidate can be denied consideration solely on account of their disability.

The top court also set aside certain rules of the Madhya Pradesh Services Examination (Recruitment and Conditions of Services) Rules 1994 to the extent they barred visually impaired and low vision candidates from entering the judicial service.

The pleas pertained to the validity of Rule 6A and 7 of the Madhya Pradesh rules.

The PWD (persons with the disabilities) candidates, who had participated in the selection process, are entitled to be considered for judicial service selection in the light of the judgment, and they can be appointed in the vacant posts if they are otherwise eligible, the judgement said.

The detailed judgement is awaited.

On November 7, last year, the bench issued several directions ensuring equitable opportunities for persons with benchmark disabilities (PwBD) in judicial services across the country.