Acid attack victims to get quota in central govt jobs

New Delhi: People with autism, mental illnesses, intellectual disability and victims of acid attacks will now get a quota in central government jobs, an official order said. In case of direct recruitment, four percent of the total number of vacancies, up from the existing three percent, in groups A, B and C shall be reserved for people with benchmark disabilities, it said.

Benchmark disability means a person with not less than forty percent of a specified disability. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) recently wrote to all central government departments to ensure that one percent of each post be reserved for people with blindness and low vision; deaf and hard of hearing; locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy.

One percent posts each shall be also reserved for people suffering from autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness, it said. Intellectual disability is a condition characterised by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning such as reasoning, learning and problem solving, and in adaptive behaviour that covers a range of everyday skills.

The move to enhance reservation quota for those with a learning disability and acid attack victims comes after passage of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and the notification of relevant rules in this regard. As per an earlier order of the DoPT, issued in 2005, three percent of the total posts were to be reserved for people with disabilities.

Of these one percent each was for those with blindness or low vision; hearing impairment and locomotor disability or cerebral palsy. Under the new rules, all government organisations have been asked to appoint ‘grievance redressal officers’ to look into complaints.

These officers will maintain a register of complaint carrying details such as date of complaint; the name of the complainant; the name of the establishment or person against whom the complaint has been lodged; the gist of the complaint and the date of disposal by the grievance redressal officer, the order said.

“Any person aggrieved with any matter relating to discrimination in employment against any person with a disability may file a complaint with the grievance redressal officer of the respective government establishment,” the DoPT order said.

Every complaint shall be inquired into within two months of its registration and outcome thereof or action taken thereon shall be communicated to the complainant or person with benchmark disability, it said. The provisions have also been made in the new rules to ensure that reservation for people with disabilities is not adjusted against the posts meant for those from Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Classes.