IEP CHANDIGARH JULY 02, 2022
Haryana Government has decided to grant the benefit of horizontal reservation in promotion @ 4 percent to the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBDs) covered under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. A letter in this regard has been issued by Chief Secretary to all the Administrative Secretaries, Heads of Departments, Chief Administrators and Managing Directors of Boards, Corporations, Public Undertakings, Divisional Commissioners, Registrar of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh, Deputy Commissioners and Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) and Registrar of all Universities of the State.
Divulging more details in this regard an official spokesperson said that as per instructions, the new Act namely, Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 has come into force from April 19, 2017, therefore, these instructions of 4 percent horizontal reservation shall be applicable with effect from April 19, 2017 onwards to the PwBDs who covered under this Act.
In case of promotion, 4 percent of the total number of vacancies in the cadre strength of Group A, B, C and D shall be reserved for PwBDs. Against the posts identified for each disability, one percent each shall be reserved for PwBDs under blindness and low vision, deaf and hard of hearing and locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy respectively and one percent combined under autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness, multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses a to d including deaf-blindness.
Horizontality of Reservation for Persons with Disabilities
The Spokesperson said that reservation for backward classes of citizens (Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes) is called vertical reservation and the reservation for categories such as PwBDs and ex-servicemen is called horizontal reservation.
The Spokesperson said that to illustrate, if in a given year there are two vacancies reserved for the PwBDs and out of two PwBDs promoted, one belongs to Scheduled Caste and the other belongs to Unreserved, the SC candidate with benchmark disability shall be adjusted against the S/caste point in the reservation roster and the Unreserved candidate with benchmark disability against the unreserved point in the relevant roster.
In case none of the vacancies falls on the point reserved for the SCs, the candidate under benchmark disability belonging to SC shall be adjusted in the future against the next available vacancy reserved for SCs.
Since the PwBDs have to be placed in the appropriate category viz. SC/BC/ Unreserved in the roster meant for reservation of SCs/BCs, the application form (in respect of Departmental examination for promotion) for the post should require the candidates applying under the quota reserved for PwBDs to indicate whether they belong to SC/BC or Unreserved category.
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.
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.
