- Reservations of the pwd [persons with disabilities] remain only on paper. Instead of being proactive to protect the interests of the disabled, a conscious effort is being taken to thwart their efforts to secure employment bytaking an obstructive or lethargic stand.
- This statement was passed by the Kerela High court while hearing the plea of three petitions who were despaired by the State and the Aided School Managers in implementing the provisions of the Act in [KJ Varghese v State of Kerala and others]
- Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. observed that reservations for Differently Abled Should Be Implemented in Aided School Appointments.
- Reservations of people with disabilities should be enforced in government aided educational institutions and post-2018 recruitment should not be done before the pwd provision is made.
- The court was considering a batch of petitions which highlighted the "continuous apathy, indifference and passivity" shown by the State government and aided school managers in implementing the provisions of the 1995 and 2016 Acts.
- The issue related to various government orders about reservations for persons with disabilities in aided institutions, particularly the ones which fixed cut-off dates so that reservations would be provided in vacancies that arise only after such dates.
- The petitioners contended that fixation of such cut-off dates violated the provisions of the two statutes.
- It was further contended that the action being taken by the educational authorities under the State government to grant approval to appointments without providing for reservation in the appointment of teachers in the schools, is violative of the fundamental rights guaranteed to them under Articles 14 and 15 read with Article 41 of the Constitution of India.
- Therefore, the petitioners sought to quash the orders fixing cut-off dates and sought directions to the State government to issue fresh orders to aided schools.
- The Social Justice Department of Kerala issued an order in 2018 extending the provisions of the Act to all aided educational institutions Directions were also issued to all authorities of such institutions to provide a 3% reservation of the total number of vacancies in the cadre strengthn appointments in aided schools and aided colleges, including professional colleges to the posts identified as suitable for persons with disabilities.
- The court highlighted that employment is a key factor in the development of our nation and inclusion of persons with disabilities.
- The court took reference of the apex court judgement claiming that disabled people were kept out of jobs because of social and practical barriers that prevent them from joining the workforce.
- the benefits of the reservation should be granted to people with disability as they have statutory and constitutional rights to it.
- The rights under the PWD act 1995 cannot be taken away by limiting their clauses.
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