Lagatar24 Desk
Ranchi: The Jharkhand High Court has held that a candidate with disability cannot be denied appointment merely because of a delay of three seconds, directing that she be issued an appointment letter within eight weeks in the Dumka chowkidar recruitment case.
Candidate Disqualified by Three Seconds in Race
The case relates to the recruitment of 328 chowkidar posts under Advertisement No. 01/2025. The petitioner, who belongs to the disability category, cleared the written test. In the physical test, she was made to run along with general candidates and was given no extra time or special facility. She completed the run in 10 minutes 3 seconds but was declared unfit because of the three-second delay.
Petitioner Cites Right to Reasonable Accommodation
Advocate Shubham Mishra argued that under Sections 2(y) and 20 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, providing reasonable accommodation to candidates with disabilities is a statutory responsibility of the government. He also cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in Vikash Kumar v. Union Public Service Commission.
Court Rejects State’s Argument
The state government argued that the rules had no provision for extra time. The High Court did not accept this, clarifying that no rule or government notification can run contrary to a law made by Parliament. It held that denying reasonable accommodation to a disabled candidate is not in line with the law, and also noted that 11 of the 13 posts reserved for the disability category in Dumka were vacant.
Court Declares Petitioner Entitled to Appointment
The court declared the petitioner entitled to appointment as chowkidar and ordered that her appointment letter be issued within eight weeks.
