Reply to plea over reserving seats for blind candidates in medical exam: Delhi HC to UPSC

New Delhi, Sep 10 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on a plea seeking 1 per cent reservation of seats for blind candidates in the combined medical services examination in all recruitment cycles.

A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela issued notice to the UPSC and Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities on a petition by organisation Mission Accessibility.

The court directed the authorities to file replies within four weeks and posted the matter for December 3.

Advocate Rahul Bajaj, appearing for the petitioner, sought direction to the UPSC and DoPT to reserve 1 per cent seats for the blind and low vision candidates in the Combined Medical Services Examination (CMSE) under the mandate of Section 34(1)(a) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.

He said the petition has been filed after one of the members of the petitioner organisation sat for CMSE-2024 as a blind/low vision candidate.

Despite securing the minimum qualifying marks for the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) category, he was not called for the interview for want of reservation for this category of disability.

The plea, filed through advocates Amritesh Mishra and Sarah, said Section 34 of the Act mandates that all government establishments should reserve not less than 4 per cent of the total number of vacancies for PwBD, of which a minimum of 1 per cent must be specifically reserved for persons with blindness and low vision.

The petition said the UPSC, which conducts CMSE for recruitment to various posts under Central Health Services, Indian Railways, and other government establishments, has failed to comply with the said statutory obligation.

"In a country where there is a well-acknowledged shortage of medical professionals, there is no rational basis to exclude doctors with blindness or low vision—especially those who have duly completed their MBBS degrees and compulsory internships—from service opportunities," it added.

With appropriate accommodations, the plea said, such professionals are fully capable of performing various essential duties associated with public healthcare roles.

The plea said UPSC has also released the examination notice for CMSE-2025, which suffers from the same flaw as the notification for CMSE 2024.

Despite there being 705 vacancies, not a single one of them (let alone 1 per cent of them) were reserved for candidates with blindness/low vision, it argued.

Raising "reasonable apprehension", the petitioner said "grave injustice" which plagued CMSE-2024 and CMSE-2025 would continue in the next cycle.

The plea, as a result, sought directions to the EPWD department to identify the posts that can be occupied by the blind and low vision persons in the combined medical services.

It also sought a direction to DoPT, DoEPWD and Union Ministry of Family Welfare to work out and provide reasonable accommodations required by persons with blindness and low vision in the combined medical services. PTI SKV SKV AMK AMK