HP High Court orders Regularisation of Hearing-Impaired Clerk from 2008, Citing Disability Rights
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Shimla, Dec 29,
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has ruled that a hearing-impaired employee in the Irrigation and Public Health Department must be treated as a regular appointee from the date of his initial engagement in 2008, extending full consequential service benefits. Justice Sandeep Sharma quashed two earlier rejection orders passed by the State, observing that the petitioner, Deepak Gupta, was entitled to protection under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.
The Court held that denying regular appointment to a person appointed against a disability quota defeats the legislative intent, citing the Supreme Court judgment in National Federation of the Blind which clarified that “the legislature intended to ensure 5% representation in the entire workforce both in public as well as private sector” and that “in every establishment under the appropriate Government, not less than 3% of the vacancies… shall be reserved” for persons with disabilities.
Rejecting the State’s argument that persons with disabilities could be appointed only on contract, the Court reiterated that the objective of the law cannot be met with temporary employment. It quoted from an earlier judgment: “The reservation mandated under Section 33 of the Act will necessarily mean to provide employment, which has permanency attached to it and that can only be by way of regular appointment.”
Justice Sharma noted that similarly placed employees — including Dila Ram and Nitin Kumar — had already been granted regular status from the date of initial appointment, and those rulings had attained finality up to the Supreme Court. “Petitioner being similar situate… is required to be given similar treatment,” the Court observed, directing authorities to extend all consequential benefits such as seniority, arrears and promotions.
Allowing the petition, the Court ordered that “respondents are directed to treat the appointment of the petitioner w.e.f. his initial appointment against the post of Clerk on regular basis with all consequential benefits,” closing a litigation battle that spanned over a decade
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