'Reserve 2 out of 66 posts of Asst Profs for difftly-abled'

The Madras High Court today directed Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore, to reserve two seats out of 66 posts of Assistant Professors to differently- abled persons.
The Court issued a notice to the government and the University Vice Chancellor and the Registrar to abide by its order.
Justice D Hariparanthaman, before whom a petition filed by one M Sivakumar, a visually-challenged person, came up, issued notice to the Secretary, Higher Education Department and the Vice Chancellor and the Registrar of the University and directed them to keep in reserve two seats out of 66 posts.
Sivakumar submitted that he is a Post Graduate in Tamil, besides having an M. Phil in Tamil. Apart from this, he had submitted his Ph.D. Thesis in 2014 and was awaiting the viva voce for the award of of the Ph.D.

He had passed UGC National Eligibility Test in 2007 and was fully qualified to hold the post of Assistant Professor of Tamil in Colleges and Universities all over India, he said.
He said he is from Hindu Vanniyar Community and also a visually-challenged person.

The University had in a notification through advertisements in vernacular dailies on April 26 2015 called for applications for the posts in all its constituent colleges.
The petitioner alleged that the advertisement and the notification did not mention anything about the number of vacancies available for differently-abled persons.
He said Section 33 of 'PWD Act' provides for not less than three per cent reservation of posts in every establishment for persons suffering from blindness or low vision, hearing impairment and loco-motor disability or cerebral palsy.

The petitioner submitted that the University is a state University and should be a model employer and implement in letter and spirit the "PWD ACT" and appoint persons with disabilities as mandated in the Act".
He said the advertisements are violative of Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the Constitution and prayed that the Court quash it and direct the University to notify the vacancies afresh as per Section 33 of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.