RATTAN CHAND Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of this writ petition, the petitioner has prayed for the following relief:-

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that he is physically impaired person with more than 50% permanent orthopedic impaired-ness. He joined the service of the respondent-State as a Clerk, in the year 1979. Vide office memorandum dtd. 29/3/2013, the respondent-State has enhanced the age of retirement of blind Government employees from 58 to 60 years.

(3.) In the meanwhile, State challenged the order passed by the erstwhile Tribunal in Krishan Chand versus State of H.P before this Court, by way of CWP No. 1577 of 2018, titled State of H.P versus Krishan Chand, which was dismissed by the Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court vide judgment dtd. 5/11/2018. Hon'ble Division Bench was pleased to hold that the issue in fact was no more res integra as it stood decided by the Hon'ble Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in LPA No. 1719 of 2011, titled as State of Punjab and others versus Bhupinder Singh, decided on 25/9/2012, wherein the Court held that all persons suffering from one or other disability as defined in The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (hereinafter referred to as 'the 1995 Act'), were entitled to be treated at par and they could not be treated differently from other disabled persons, falling within the definition of Sec. 2(i) of the 1995 Act, as all of them were belonging to one Class and there cannot be any sub- classification within the same Class. Hon'ble Division Bench also observed that the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court was affirmed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 8855 of 2014, decided on 16/9/2014.