The Supreme Court today sought response from the University Grants Commission (UGC) on a plea alleging that differently-abled persons were not being given three per cent reservation in jobs as mandated by law, by the universities.
A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant issued notice to the UGC and asked it to file a response within five weeks on the plea filed by the Justice Sunanda Bhandare Foundation.
The Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act provides for separate one per cent reservation for each of the three categories of persons with disabilities -- persons suffering from blindness and low vision, those suffering from hearing disability and those suffering from loco-motor disability or cerebral palsy.
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Referring to the statutory provisions, the plea alleged that the persons with disabilities were not getting reservation in jobs by various universities across the country.
The apex court said when the attempts for exams of
Physically Handicapped candidates of OBC Category as well as those of in General Category are made equal, there is no question of discrimination as the candidate belonging to OBC Category has already been given ten years relaxation in age which give them a relaxation of three more years.
It said it was not a case of treating "unequals as equal" but a case of extending concessions and relaxations to the Physically Handicapped candidates belonging to General Category as well as Physically Handicapped belonging to OBC Category.
"Physically Handicapped Category is a Category in itself. A person who is physically handicapped, be it Physically Handicapped of a General Category or OBC Category, suffering from similar disability has to be treated alike in extending the relaxation and concessions. Both being provided 7 attempts to appear in Civil Services Examination, no discrimination or arbitrariness can be found in the above scenario", the bench said.
