'Give no. of vacancies, reservations as per RPWD Act for 2020 CSE'
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has asked the DoPT to file an affidavit giving the total number of vacancies notified and reservations given in accordance with the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act for the Civil Services Exam (CSE) 2020.
The court was hearing two pleas by the disability rights organisations, which have alleged that seats for visually-impaired and people with multiple disabilities have not been reserved in accordance with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act of 2016.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh granted time to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to file an additional affidavit before August 2, the next date of hearing in the matter.
"The DoPT will clearly highlight in the affidavit the total number of vacancies notified and the reservations given in accordance with Section 34(1) of the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 as also the details of 251 vacancies for which it is stated that no reservations can be made," the bench said. Central government standing counsel Abhay Prakash Sahay, appearing for the DoPT, submitted that the final vacancies notified for the CSE 2020 are 836, out of which against 251 vacancies, there can be no reservation.
As against the remaining 585 vacancies, 24 have been reserved and thus the reservation is in accordance with the mandate of Section 34(1) of the Act, that is, 4 per cent, he said.
The high court had earlier sought responses of the Centre, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the DoPT on the plea seeking quashing of the notice announcing the civil services preliminary and an interim stay on declaration of the results on the ground that inadequate number of seats have been reserved for persons with visual and multiple disabilities.
Petitioner organisation Evara Foundation has contended that due to inadequate number of advertised vacancies for visually-impaired and those having multiple disabilities, fewer candidates belonging to these two categories would qualify for the main examination.
It has also said that the number of seats reserved for visually-impaired, deaf, hard of hearing and locomotor disabilities is not in accordance with the RPWD Act. The foundation has sought a direction to the UPSC and the Centre to "amend the impugned notification by earmarking not less than eight seats for blind/low vision and multiple disabilities category each in the impugned notification".
