BHOPAL: In an order that could have far-reaching repercussions, Jabalpur High Court has ordered that appointment be provided to candidates from the physically handicapped category by February 28.
The verdict was delivered by the principal Bench of Jabalpur High Court headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Vijay Kumar Shukla.
The high court order has come after the state Public Service Commission (PSC) demanded yet another extension of time to implement the order. This time, they had sought five months’ time to implement the order.
Earlier, on June 6, 2020, the PSC had sought three and a half months’ time to implement the order that the high court had delivered on April 29, 2020.
“The present application was filed on 06. 6. 2020 and, thus, a period of more than three and a half months has already lapsed. However, in the interests of justice and keeping in view the peculiar situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, time is extended up to 31. 12. 2020 to carry out the directions issued by this court with a rider that no further extension shall be granted,” the court had then observed.
The high court refused to give further time to the PSC, saying that appointment should be given to the candidates by February 28.
The petition relates to the computation of quota for physically handicapped candidates. The court directed the PSC to redraw the list of physically handicapped candidates after revising the quota by computing the posts on the basis of the total number of vacancies in the cadre strength and not on posts advertised and thereafter to proceed for appointment.
One of the petitioners requesting anonymity raised a question on how the PSC could compute reservation status and quota. It had asked the department of higher education (DHE) to provide the data, but the DHE had repeatedly failed to produce any data before the court.
The decision of the high court was given on a petition challenging quota computation for the physically handicapped. Similarly, there are other cases pending in the court that have also challenged the quota computation in other categories. The DHE has, so far, been unable to produce any data related to numbers of sanctioned posts and reservation quota thereof in the court.
