KERALA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION Vs. ABDUL RASAK A

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) and its Secretary have preferred this Original Petition aggrieved by order dated 12/2/2020 in OA(EKM) No.76/2020 of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal.

(2.) The respondents herein are the original applicants. They approached the Tribunal inter alia seeking for a direction to refix the number of candidates included in the supplementary list in respect of candidates suffering from locomotor disability along with Annexure A3 shortlist and for other consequential reliefs.

(3.) The short facts of the case would disclose that the applicants had applied to the post of Medical Officer (Ayurveda)/Assistant Insurance Medical Officer (Ayurveda) pursuant to a notification issued by the KPSC on 14/12/2017. The applicants specifically applied for the post of Medical Officer (Ayurveda). None of them were included in the main list of general candidates or in the supplementary list in the short list of differently abled candidates. It is the contention of the applicants that, in the shortlist, only 6 persons were included under the locomotor disability. They submitted a representation to the Secretary of KPSC requesting to include sufficient candidates in the select list. According to them, over a period of time, several posts intended for differently abled persons have not been filled up. Since their representation was not considered, they approached the Tribunal by filing OA(EKM) No.1501/2019 and the Tribunal by its order dated 30/8/2019 directed the Secretary of KPSC to consider the same. After considering the said representation, Annexure A3 shortlist was modified by adding 5 more candidates in terms of Annexure A13 dated 6/1/2020. The contention urged by the applicants was that only 13 vacancies were set apart for differently abled persons out of which 2 were appointed under the general quota and 1 under Scheduled Caste quota. Therefore, only 10 persons are available in the list. Applicants also contended that there were 29 backlog vacancies from 1996 to 2018 and therefore the number of candidates under the locomotor disability in the supplementary list has to be enhanced.