SAIDUR RAHMAN Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. K.N. Choudhury, learned Sr. counsel assisted by Mr. J. Kalita, learned counsel for the writ petitioner. Also heard Mr. P.N. Goswami, learned Addl. Advocate General, Assam appearing on behalf of respondent No. 1 as well as Mr. K. Konwar, learned standing counsel, APSC representing the respondent Nos. 2 and 3.

(2.) Aggrieved by non-inclusion of the petitioner's name in the select list prepared for appointment in the post of Veterinary Officer/ Block Veterinary Officer, the instant writ petition has been filed seeking a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to appoint him against the quota reserved for the Person With Disabilities (PWD) category candidates.

(3.) The facts of the case, giving rise to filing this writ petition, briefly stated, are as follows. The Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) had issued an advertisement notice dtd. 17/2/2018 inviting applications for filling up number of posts in different departments under the Government of Assam including 113 posts of Veterinary Officer/ Block Veterinary Officer in Class- II, Gazetted (Jr. Grade) under the Assam Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department. In the advertisement notice 17/2/2018 it has been mentioned that 4 (four) posts of Veterinary Officer/ Block Veterinary Officer have been kept reserved for PWD candidates with Locomotor, Low vision and Hearing handicapped category. The writ petitioner herein is a general category candidate but he is suffering from hearing impairment to the extent of more than 60%. As such, he had submitted his candidatures as PWD candidate belonging to the General Category. Upon completion of the selection process the APSC had published select list dtd. 3/10/2018 containing the names of as many as 110 candidates belonging to various categories for filling up the advertised posts of Veterinary Officer/ Block Veterinary Officer. The said select list, however, had mentioned that there were no candidates belonging to low vision and hearing handicapped in the PWD category and hence, no recommendation could be made for the said categories.