RAJEEV KUMAR GUPTA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted in SLP (Civil) No.244 of 2016.

(2.) The petitioners are employed with Prasar Bharati Corporation of India (hereinafter, "Prasar Bharati"), a statutory corporation brought into existence by the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990 (hereinafter "the 1990 Act"). The petitioners are 'persons with disability' (hereinafter, "PWD") as defined under Section 2(t) of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (hereinafter "the 1995 Act"). They filed this writ petition aggrieved by two office memoranda No.36035/16/91-Estt. (SCT) dated 18.02.1997 and No.36035/3/2004-Estt. (RES) dated 29.12.2005 (hereinafter impugned memorandum I and II respectively) issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. The petitioners' grievance is that the impugned memoranda deprive them of the statutory benefit of reservation under the 1995 Act w.r.t. Group A and Group B posts in Prasar Bharati.

(3.) Posts in Prasar Bharati are classified into four groups A to D. Each group consists of a number of classes of posts and in each class there are a number of posts. Certain posts were identified by the Government of India vide notification No. 16-70/2004-DD.III dated 18.01.2007 (hereinafter, "NOTIFICATION") as posts suitable for being filled up with PWD (hereinafter "IDENTIFIED POSTS"); an exercise in compliance with the mandate under Section 32 of the 1995 Act. After such identification, the 'appropriate Government' is mandated under Section 33 to reserve not less than three per cent of IDENTIFIED POSTS in favour of PWD.