These points on reservation for persons with disabilities relate to every exam whether it’s a Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exam like the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) Exam, the Combined Higher Secondary (10+2) Level (CHSL) Exam or any exam like the Civil Services Exam (IAS Exam) conducted by UPSC, or any type of benefits in any govt departments.

WHAT % RESERVATION IS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES?

4% of the vacancies in case of direct recruitment to Group A, B and C posts shall be reserved for persons with disabilities in the following manner:

Against the posts identified for each disabilities, of which, one per cent each shall be reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities under clauses (a), (b) and (c), and one per cent, under clauses (d) and (e)

(a) blindness and low vision
(b) deaf and hard of hearing
(c) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy
(d) autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness
(e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d) including deaf-blindness

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 of 4% shall not be reduced in such cases 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 equally, as far as possible.

TYPES OF DISABILITIES

1. A) Blindness: Blindness refers to a condition where a person suffers from any of the following conditions:

• 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.

B) 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.

2. Hearing Impairment: ‘Hearing Impairment’ means loss of sixty decibels or more in the better ear in the conversational range of frequencies.

3. A) 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.

B) Cerebral Palsy: ‘Cerebral Palsy’ means a group of non-progressive conditions of a person characterised by abnormal motor control posture resulting from brain insult or injuries occurring in the pre-natal, peri­-natal or infant period of development.

C) All the cases of orthopaedically handicapped persons would be covered under the category of ‘locomotor disability or cerebral palsy’.

Permissible degree of disability for reservation in posts under the Central Government?

Only such persons would be eligible for reservation in services/posts who suffer from not less than 40 per cent of relevant disability. A person who wants to avail of benefit of reservation would have to submit a Disability Certificate issued by a competent authority.

Competent authority to issue Disability Certificate?

The competent authority to issue Disability Certificate shall be a Medical Board duly constituted by the Central or a State Government. The Central/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/hearing disability, as the case may be.

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.

An employee who acquires disability after entering into service will be entitled to get the benefit of reservation as a person with disability from the date he produces a valid certificate of disability.

How can a Person with Disability be appointed against an unreserved vacancy?

In the posts which are identified suitable for persons with disabilities, a person with disability cannot be denied the right to compete for appointment against an unreserved vacancy. Thus a person with disability can be appointed against an unreserved vacancy, provided the post is identified suitable for persons with disability of the relevant category.

How is the reservation for Persons with Disabilities computed?

Reservation for persons with disabilities in case of Group C posts shall be computed on the basis of total number of vacancies occurring in all Group C posts in the establishment, although the recruitment of the persons with disabilities would only be in the posts identified suitable for them. The number of vacancies to be reserved for the persons with disabilities in case of direct recruitment to Group ‘C’ posts in an establishment shall be computed by taking into account the total number of vacancies arising in Group ‘C’ posts for being filled by direct recruitment in a recruitment year both in the identified and non-identified posts under the establishment.

Since reservation is limited to identified posts only and number of vacancies reserved is computed on the basis of total vacancies (in identified posts as well as unidentified posts), it is possible that number of persons appointed by reservation in an identified post may exceed 4 per cent.

But reservation for persons with disabilities in Group ‘A’ posts shall be computed on the basis of vacancies occurring in direct recruitment quota in all the identified Group ‘A’ posts in the establishment. The same method of computation applies for Group ‘B’ posts.

What is vertical reservation and horizontal reservation?

There are two types of reservations, which may be referred to as ‘vertical reservations’ and ‘horizontal reservations’. The reservations in favour of Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) may be called vertical reservations whereas reservations in favour of physically handicapped, ex-servicemen can be referred to as horizontal reservations.

Horizontal reservations cut across the vertical reservations – what is called interlocking reservations; means they do not have separate reservation as SCs, STs and OBCs have; rather they have their share of reservation within this quota. Suppose an ex-serviceman is SC, he will be adjusted within the reservation available for SC category only, not any other except under some other circumstances.

What are the relaxations/concessions available to Persons with Disabilities?

Relaxation in Age Limit
Upper age limit for persons with disabilities shall be relaxable in the following manner:

1. by 10 years (15 years for SCs/STs and 13 years for OBCs) in case of direct recruitment to Group ‘C’  posts;

2. by 5 years (10 years for SCs/STs and 8 years for OBCs) in case of direct recruitment to Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ posts where recruitment is made otherwise than through open competitive examination; and

3. by 10 years (15 years for SCs/STs and 13 years for OBCs) in case of direct recruitment to Group A and Group B posts through open competitive examination.

NOTE: Relaxation in age limit shall be applicable irrespective of the fact whether the post is reserved or not, provided the post is identified suitable for persons with disabilities.

Exemption from payment of examination fee and application fee
Persons with disabilities shall be exempt from payment of application fee and examination fee, prescribed in respect of competitive examinations held by the Staff Selection Commission, the Union Public Service Commission etc. for recruitment to various posts. This exemption shall be available only to such persons who would otherwise be eligible for appointment to the post on the basis of standards of medical fitness prescribed for that post (including any concession specifically extended to the disabled persons) and who enclose with the application form, necessary certificate from a competent authority in support of their claim of disability.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION

As per Rule 10 of the Fundamental Rules, every new entrant to Government Service on initial appointment is required to produce a medical certificate of fitness issued by a competent authority. In case of medical examination of a person with disability for appointment to a post identified as suitable to be held by a person suffering from a particular kind of disability, the concerned Medical Officer or Board shall be informed beforehand that the post is identified suitable to be held by persons with disability of the relevant category and the candidate shall then be examined medically keeping this fact in view.