The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a person with disabilities cannot be refused reservation in promotions in government jobs even if the person was not appointed under the disability quota, as it upheld a Kerala high court order granting the benefit to a woman last year.
The court was hearing an appeal filed by the Kerala government challenging the reservation in promotion benefits granted to a female staff in the state’s police department by the high court in March last year.
The state claimed that the beneficiary, Leesamma Joseph, had entered the state services as a typist in 1996 by way of compassionate appointment following the death of her brother during service. At the time of joining, Joseph suffered from Post-Polio Residual Paralysis (L) Lower Limb and her permanent disability was assessed at 55 percent. However, since it was a case of compassionate appointment, she was hired under the general category and not as a disabled under the existing Persons with Disabilities Act 1995.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and R Subhash Reddy said: “The 1995 Act does not make distinction between a person who may have entered service on account of disability and a person who may have acquired disability after having entered the service.”