Two months after The Indian Express reported that two visually challenged persons were denied IAS cadre despite a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) directive,the duo have sent a legal notice to the Ministry of Personnel. The duo,who had cleared the UPSC exam with good ranks in 2009,have threatened that they would be forced to sue the ministry for contempt of court if no action is not taken soon. Last October,the CAT had directed the DoPT to induct Ajit Kumar and Ashish Singh Thakur into the IAS within eight weeks. Rajya Sabha MP and CPM leader Brinda Karat also approached the PMO since then. After reading the report,I got in touch with the candidates and went to the PMO twice with them. There is no legal validity of their denial into the IAS cadre,but still there case is being delayed, Karat said. When asked about the status of the case,V Narayanasamy,Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel,Public Grievances and Pensions,repeated the reply he gave on December 9: The matter is under consideration. We met TKA Nair (Principal Secretary,PMO) twice,but they did not give any satisfactory reply. Its frustrating that even after CAT order,there is no response. This is denial of social justice, said Kumar. If the government doesnt respond to our notice in two weeks,we will file an application for contempt of court, Kamlesh Jain,counsel for the candidates,said. I secured rank 208 but was awarded IRPS,usually awarded to candidates with quite lower ranks. It was given to those up to 512 rank that year. At my rank for an OBC candidate,I was eligible for Indian Foreign Service. Even general category candidates got IPS at this rank, Kumar said. Thakur,who ranked 435,reluctantly took up his offer and is presently under training for the Indian Postal Service in Bilaspur,his home town in Chhattisgarh. Candidates below my rank were awarded Indian Revenue Service but they gave me postal service saying blindness will affect taxation, Thakur said. He has already done a stint at the sales tax office in Bilaspur. Both approached CAT in August 2009 seeking that they be allotted the IAS. In July 2010,the Supreme Court upheld a Delhi High Court order in a related case which directed the government to fill the backlog in various posts for visually challenged candidates under The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities,Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act,1995. The government claims that we cannot make a 100 per cent visually challenged person an IAS officer,whereas there is no such limitation under the Disabilities Act. This violates the Constitution and is against our right to equality, said Kumar.
