KERALA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION Vs. PRATHIBA. K.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A differently abled candidate, having hearing impairment resulting in 70% permanent disability, was the applicant before the Tribunal. She applied for the post of Lower Division Clerk in various departments in Malappuram District pursuant to a notification dated 31.12.2010 of the Kerala Public Service Commission ['PSC' for brevity]. An OMR test was held for the post; which she cleared. She was included in the supplementary list for hearing impaired, as per Annexure A3 short list. Her certificate verification faced absolutely no problems and she was interviewed. However, she was not included in the final rank list. The Tribunal directed her inclusion on the ground that this was a post identified for the physically disabled having hearing impairment.

(2.) The learned Standing Counsel for the PSC produced before us a judgment of another Division Bench in O.P(KAT) No.4568 of 2013 dated 14.10.2014 [ Mukesh Kumar v. Kerala Public Service Commission & Others ]. It was argued that despite identification of the post by the Government, the recruiting agency, viz., the PSC, is entitled to consider whether the candidate is suitable for the post or not. We see that the decision rendered by the Division Bench was not to a post identified at that point of time.

(3.) We rely on the judgment of the very same Division Bench reported in Secretary, KPSC, Tvm. v. Seema I. & Ors. [2014 KHC 716]. Therein when the Government identified the post of UPSA (Malayalam), it was held that it is not open to the recruiting agency, viz., the PSC, to disqualify a candidate based on his disability of blindness. The dictum squarely applies in the above case.