Chandigarh, May 4- Haryana Government has issued fresh instructions for the reservation of physically handicapped persons in direct recruitment of class I, II, III and IV employees so as to bring them in line with the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995.
While stating this here today, an official spokesman said that three per cent of the vacancies in case of direct recruitment to Group A, B, C and D posts would be reserved for persons with disabilities of which one per cent each would be reserved for persons suffering from blindness or low vision, hearing impairment and locomotor disability or cerebral palsy in the posts identified for each disability.
He said that persons with disabilities would be exempted from payment of application fee and examination fee, prescribed in respect of competitive examinations held by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC), the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) for recruitment to various posts.
He said that in order to ensure that persons with disabilities get a fair opportunity in consideration for appointment to an identified post certain points would be kept in view while sending the requisition notice to the Employment exchange, HSSC and HPSC. The number of vacancies reserved for SCs, BCs, Ex-Servicemen and Persons suffering from Blindness or Low Vision/Persons suffering from Hearing Impairment/ Persons suffering from Locomotor Disability or Cerebral Palsy would be indicated clearly.
He said that in case of vacancies in posts identified suitable to be held by persons with disability, it would be indicated that the post was identified for persons with disabilities suffering from blindness or low vision, hearing impairment, and locomotor disability or cerebral palsy, as the case might be, and that the persons with disabilities belonging to the category for which the post was identified would be allowed to apply even if no vacancies were reserved for them. Such candidates would be considered for selection for appointment to the post by general standards of merit.
He said that if any Department considers it necessary to exempt any establishment partly or fully from the provision of reservation for persons with disabilities, it would have to make a reference to the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment giving full justification for the proposal. The grant of exemption would be considered by an Inter Departmental Committee set up by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.
He said that if a post was identified suitable only for one category of disability, reservation in that post would be given to persons with that disability only. Reservation of three per cent would not be reduced in such cases and total reservation in the post would be given to persons suffering from the disability for which it had been identified. Likewise in case the post was identified suitable for two categories of disabilities, reservation would be distributed between persons with those categories of disabilities equally, as far as possible. It would, however, be ensured that reservation in different posts in the establishment was distributed in such a way that the persons of three categories of disabilities, get equal representation.
He said that in the posts which were identified suitable for persons with disabilities, a person with disability could not be denied the right to compete for appointment against an unreserved vacancy. Thus a person with disability could be appointed against an unreserved vacancy, provided the post was identified suitable for persons with disability of the relevant category.
He said that persons with disabilities selected on their own merit without relaxed standards alongwith other candidates, would not be adjusted against the reserved share of vacancies. The reserved vacancies would be filled up separately from amongst the eligible candidates with disabilities which would thus comprise physically handicapped candidates who were lower in merit than the last candidate in merit list but otherwise found suitable for appointment. It would apply in case of direct recruitment only, wherever reservation for persons with disabilities was admissible.
He said that only such persons would be eligible for reservation in services and posts who suffer from not less than 40 per cent of relevant disability. A person who wants to avail benefit of reservation would have to submit a Disability Certificate issued by a competent authority. He said that the competent authority to issue Disability Certificate would be a Medical Board duly constituted by the State Government. He said that all establishments would maintain separate hindered point reservation roster registers for determining reservation for the disabled-one each for group ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ posts filled by direct recruitment.
He said that upper age limit for persons with disabilities would be relax able by ten years ( 15 years for SCs and BCs) in case of direct recruitment to Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ posts (b) by 5 years (10 years for SCs/BCs) in case of direct recruitment to Group `A’ and Group ‘B’ posts where recruitment is made through open competitive examination and by ten years (15 years for SCs/BCs) in case of direct recruitment to Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ posts through open competitive examination. He said that relaxation in age limit would be applicable irrespective of the fact whether the post was reserved or not.
He said that if sufficient numbers of persons with disabilities are not available on the basis of the general standard to fill all the vacancies reserved for them, candidates belonging to this category might be selected on relaxed standard to fill up the remaining vacancies reserved for them provided they are not found unfit for such post or posts.
He said that in case of vacancies in posts identified suitable for persons with disabilities, irrespective of whether any vacancies are reserved or not, the categories of disabilities of blindness or low vision, hearing impairment and locomotor disability or cerebral palsy, for which the post was identified suitable alongwith functional classification and physical requirements for performing the duties attached to the post should be indicated clearly. It would also be indicated that persons suffering from not less than 40 per cent of the relevant disability would alone be eligible for the benefit of reservation.