Haryana Government has issued instructions regarding Grant of Reservation in Promotion to the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full participation) Act, 1995.
Chandigarh, April 13- Haryana Government has issued instructions regarding Grant of Reservation in Promotion to the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full participation) Act, 1995.
As per the instructions 3 percent horizontal reservation in case of promotion to Group A, B, C and D posts shall be made for persons with benchmark disabilities with effect from January 1, 1996 to April 18, 2017. Out of this one per cent each for persons suffering from blindness or low vision, hearing impairment and locomotor disability or cerebral palsy, in the posts identified for each disability. Horizontal vacancy based reservation at the rate of 3 percent shall be computed on the basis of total number of vacancies to be filled by promotion occurring in the identified post/cadre of Group A,B, C and D.
The Chief Secretary, Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal while directing the all Head of the Departments, CAs/MDs of all Boards, Corporations, Public Sector Undertakings, Registrar of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh, and the Registrar of all the Universities in Haryana has said to ensure strict compliance of these instructions in letter and in spirit.
The Chief Secretary has further directed that on January 1 of every year, all the Departments, Boards, Corporations shall continue to upload data every year on promotion of PwDs along with data on representation/direct recruitment of PwDs in respect of posts, services under the State Government on the URL, which will be informed in near future.
Maintenance of Register of Complaints by the Departments
The Chief Secretary directed all Departments, Boards, Corporations shall designate an officer of Group A level as Grievance Redressal Officer-cum-Nodal Officer for redressing the grievances of the Disabled Employees working in that establishment. Any person aggrieved with any matter relating to discrimination in promotion, may file a complaint with the Grievance Redressal Officer-cum-Nodal Officer of the respective Department. Every complaint filed, shall be inquired into within two months of its registration, and outcome thereof or action taken thereon, shall be communicated to the complainant/PwD.
Horizontality of Reservation for Persons with Disabilities
The Spokesperson said that reservation for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes is called vertical reservation and the reservation for categories such as persons with disabilities and ex-servicemen is called horizontal reservation. Horizontal reservation cuts across vertical reservation (which is called inter-locking reservation) and persons selected against the quota for persons with disabilities have to be placed in the appropriate category viz.SC/BC/Unreserved category employees depending upon the category to which they belong in the roster meant for reservation of SCs/BCs.
The Spokesperson said that to illustrate, if in a given year there are two vacancies reserved for the persons with disabilities and out of two persons with disabilities appointed, one belongs to a Scheduled Caste and the other to Unreserved (general) category then the disabled SC candidate shall be adjusted against the SC point in the reservation roster and the Unreserved (general) candidate against unreserved point in the relevant reservation roster. In case none of the vacancies falls on point reserved for the SCs, the disabled candidate belonging to SC shall be adjusted in future against the next available vacancy reserved for SCs.
Since the persons with disabilities have to be placed in the appropriate category viz. SC/BC/ Unreserved in the roster meant for reservation of SCs/BCs, the application form for the post should require the candidates applying under the quota reserved for persons with disabilities to indicate whether they belong to SC/BC or Unreserved category.
Computation of Reservation
The Spokesperson said that in case of promotion, vacancy based horizontal reservation for the persons with disabilities shall be computed on the basis of total number of vacancies occurring in the cadre strength of each group i.e. Group A, B, C and D posts to be filled by promotion in the establishment.
All vacancies in promotion quota shall be taken into account while computing reservation in promotion (identified posts as well as unidentified posts), it is possible that number of persons appointed by reservation in promotion may exceed 3 percent in a cadre due to unidentified posts of another cadre of same group. In order to ensure proper implementation of reservation in promotion to PwDs, number of vacancies should be assessed, computed as accurately as possible. All clear vacancies arising against promotional share, quota in a cadre of each group viz A, B, C and D posts, due to death, retirement, resignation should be taken into account while calculating the number of vacancies meant for PwDs.
Identification of Jobs/PostsThe Spokesperson said that in respect of identification of posts suitable for persons with disabilities in Groups A, B,C and D, the State Government has adopted the list circulated by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (Department of Disability Affairs), Government of India, New Delhi vide their notification dated July 29, 2013. The adoption of such ‘list’ was conveyed vide notification dated February 3, 2017 of Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Haryana.
The ‘list’ of posts is not an exhaustive list. The Departments, Public Sector Undertakings and the Autonomous Bodies can further supplement the list. If a post is already held by a person with disability, it shall be deemed to have been identified. The nomenclature used in the ‘list’ includes any other nomenclature used for comparable posts with functions identical to the posts identified in the said notification.
Reservation in Posts Identified For One or Two Disability Categories
The Spokesperson shared that if a post is identified suitable only for one category of disability, reservation in that post shall be given to persons with that disability only. Reservation in promotion shall not be reduced from 3 percent and total reservation in the post will be given to persons suffering from the disability for which it has been identified. Likewise in case the post is identified suitable for two categories of disabilities, reservation shall be distributed between persons with those categories of disabilities, alternatively. It shall, however, be ensured that reservation in different posts in the establishment is distributed in such a way that the persons of specific categories of disabilities, as far as possible, may get equal representation.
Exemption from Reservation
As per the notification if any Department considers it necessary to exempt any post/cadre partly or fully from the provision of reservation for persons with disabilities, it may make a reference to the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Haryana giving full justification for the proposal. The grant of exemption shall be considered by a Committee set up by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Haryana, constituted vide their notification dated August 3, 2011 in consultation with the State Commissioner.
Appointment against Unreserved Vacancies
The Spokesperson said that a person with disability cannot be denied the right to appointment by promotion on seniority-cum-merit basis against an unreserved vacancy. Hence a person with disability can be appointed on his turn against an unreserved vacancy also, provided the type of post is identified suitable for persons with disability of the relevant disability category.
Definitions of Disabilities
The Spokesperson said that definitions of categories of disabilities for the purpose of these instructions with respect to 3 percent reservation includes, Blindness: “Blindness” refers to a condition where a person suffers from any of the following conditions, namely: total absence of sight; or visual acuity not exceeding 6/60 or 20/200 (Snellen) in the better eye with correcting lenses; or limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of 20 degree or worse; Low vision: ‘Person with low vision’ means a person with impairment of visual functioning even after treatment or standard refractive correction but who uses or is potentially capable of using vision for the planning or execution of a task with appropriate assistive device.
Hearing Impairment: ‘Hearing Impairment’ means loss of sixty decibels or more in the better ear in the conversational range of frequencies.
Locomotor disability: “Locomotor disability” means disability of the bones, joints or muscles leading to substantial restriction of the movement of the limbs or any form of cerebral palsy.
Cerebral Palsy: “Cerebral Palsy” means a group of non- progressive conditions of a person characterized by abnormal motor control posture resulting from brain insult or injuries occurring in the pre-natal, peri-natal or infant period of development.
All the cases of orthopedically handicapped persons would be covered under the category of “loco-motor disability or cerebral.
Degree of Disability for Reservation
Only such persons would be eligible for reservation in promotion who suffer from not less than 40 per cent of relevant disability. A person who wants to avail the benefit of reservation would have to submit a Disability Certificate issued by a duly constituted medical board in the prescribed format.
Competent Medical Authority to Issue Disability Certificate
The Spokesperson said that the competent medical authority to issue Disability Certificate shall be a Medical Board duly constituted by the State Government. The State Government may constitute Medical Board(s) consisting of at least three members out of which at least one shall be a specialist in the particular field for assessing locomotor, cerebral, visual and hearing disability, as the case may be.
The Spokesperson said that the Medical Board shall, after due examination, give a permanent disability certificate in cases of such permanent disabilities where there are no chances of variation in the degree of disability.
The Medical Board shall indicate the period of validity of the certificate, in cases where there are chances of variation in the degree of disability. No refusal of disability certificate shall be made unless an opportunity is given to the applicant of being heard. On representation by the applicant, the Medical Board may review its decision having regard to all the facts and circumstances of the case and pass such orders in the matter as it thinks fit. At the time of promotion against a vacancy reserved for persons with disability, the appointing authority shall ensure that the person is eligible to get the benefit of reservation.
The Rules for the Disability certificate shall be followed in accordance with Government of Haryana Gazette notification dated August 5, 2021.
Creation of Supernumerary Post or Reversion of Junior Most
The Spokesperson said that benefit to PwD who have retired: In case of PwD employees those have been retired after January 1, 1996 and are found eligible for deemed date promotion, supernumerary post shall be created for limited period, if necessary.
Benefit to PwD who are in service
To grant the benefit of reservation in promotion to the eligible PwD employees who are in service, the junior-most may be reverted, if necessary, after following due procedure.
Benefit of Reservation to the Employees Who Get Disabled in Service
The Spokesperson said that the PwD Act does not make any distinction between persons acquiring disability before or after entering into service. A Government employee who acquires disability after entering into service will be equally entitled to get the benefit of reservation as provided to the disabled employees at the time of entry into service, with effect from the date he produces a certificate of disability to the Appointing Authority issued by the competent medical authority.
To grant the benefit of reservation in promotion to persons of benchmark disabilities against their earmarked vacancy who acquire any disability while in service, the junior most employee, if necessary, may be reverted after following due procedure.
If a person of benchmark disability is promoted on higher post against his earmarked vacancy, the original seniority for promotion on his normal line of hierarchy shall remain intact. Meaning thereby, the original seniority of a disabled employee shall not be disturbed even if he has been promoted to higher post.
Further promotion of disabled employee to the higher post shall again be subject to availability of earmarked vacancy for the person with disabilities.
Consideration Zone, Inter Se Exchange and Carry Forward of Reservation In Case of Promotion
The Spokesperson said that against the posts of promotion to be filled up by non-selection method, i.e. on seniority-cum-merit basis, the eligible persons with disabilities shall be considered for promotion against the reserved vacancies and in case no eligible employee of the appropriate category of disability is available, the vacancy can be exchanged with other categories of disabilities identified for it. If it is not possible to fill up the post by reservation even by exchange, the post to be filled up by reservation shall be carried forward for a period upto three subsequent recruitment years whereafter it shall lapse.
Where the promotional posts are filled up by selection method, i.e. on merit basis, the disabled employees who are within the normal zone of consideration shall be considered for promotion. Where adequate number of disabled employees of the appropriate category of disability are not available within the normal zone, the zone of consideration may be extended to five times the number of vacancies and the persons with disabilities falling within the extended zone may be considered. In the event of non-availability of candidates even in the extended zone, the reservation can be exchanged so that post can be filled by a person with other category of disability, if possible. If it is not possible to fill up the post by reservation, the post may be filled by a person other than a person with disability and the reservation shall be carried forward for a period upto three subsequent recruitment years, whereafter it shall lapse.
No Benefit of Stepping Up of Pay to Other Employees
The Spokesperson said that where the benefit of promotion under these instructions has been granted to a person with disabilities who was junior to others in the seniority list, no benefit of stepping up of pay or pay scale shall be admissible to others who were senior to him in the feeder post.
No.IPRDH/2022
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