Differently abled persons eligible for open merit jobs

Lahore: Lahore High Court has announced that differently abled persons are eligible to be employed on open merit other than the quota reserved for the disabled persons.

Through a detailed judgment on a plea of a visually impaired teacher on Wednesday, the chief justice of Lahore high court Syed Mansoor Ali Shah declared illegal the recruitment policy of the Punjab government for disabled people and ordered it to reframe the policy.

Hafiz Junaid Mahmood had challenged the employment policy after being denied the job of a senior elementary school educator (SESE) on open merit.

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He claimed that the definition of disabled in the recruitment policy was against the definition as given in Section 2(c) of the Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance, 1981.

Junaid resisted that he was entitled for consideration on open merit at par along with the other applicants and in addition to that a differently abled person enjoyed a 3 percent special quota under Section 10 of the order.

Lawyers of provincial as well as the local governments argued it was not possible for a blind teacher to control the class or to maintain the discipline, terming the petitioner ineligible to apply for the post.

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They argued a blind individual was not eligible to apply for the post of teacher as he could not even write on a blackboard.

The lawyers believed that the right of the petitioner to seek employment had to be proportionately balanced along with the rights of the children to get proper education, and the right to education was the dominant right.

Moreover, they challenged the maintainability of the petition, claiming courts could not interfere in policy issues.

Though, the chief justice overruled this argument, and observed that right to life, dignity as well as equality mandated that state and its organs make serious endeavors to provide reasonable accommodation to contrarily abled people so that they can become useful and productive members of the society.

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The chief justice ruled the 3 percent quota under the ordinance was an extra benefit and did not restrict a person along with any disability to apply for the general quota. To restrict them to a limited quota amounts to depriving equal accessibility as well as opportunities to them and offends Article 25 of the Constitution, he said.

Also striking down Section 4D of the recruitment policy, Justice Mansoor ordered the government to consider the candidacy of the petitioner against the teaching post on open merit or against the additional 3% quota whereas giving one month to the government for complying along with the order.