Nagaland yet to implement job reservation for PwDs

Our Correspondent Kohima, Oct. 29 (EMN): Despite the Supreme Court’s directive to government establishments to extend at least 4% reservation in jobs to Person with Disabilities (PwDs), the government of Nagaland is yet to implement the reservations. According to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwDs) Act of 2016, Section 34 (I), “every appropriate government shall appoint in every government establishment, not less than four percent of the total number of vacancies in the cadre strength in each group of posts meant to be filled with persons with benchmark disabilities.” In relation to this, Toviholi Swu, assisted by Nagaland State Legal Services Authority (NSLSA), had filed a writ petition before the Guwahati High Court, Kohima Bench; but the court is yet to deliver a verdict. The final hearing is scheduled for October 30. The petitioner is a visually impaired person, who has appeared for the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) several times, and has even reached the viva round four times, according to sources. However, the state government is yet to identify any group—a post under civil service and other elite services for the PwD candidates. According to the petitioner's legal source, the state government has till date not applied the RPwD, Act 2016 and is yet to identify the post. Therefore, the petitioner has urged that the state government to “implement the provisions of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 in toto and also to make the final result of the NCS/NPS/NSS and allied services examination 2018 subject to the outcome of the writ petitions”. A government source said that it is in the process of implementing the reservations. As directed in Section 33 (ii) of RPwD Act, 2016, an expert committee was set up and it has already held two sittings to identify the post reservation for PwDs. A time-frame of November 8 was specified to the governmental departments to identify posts for PwDs. If the departments are unable to identify the post for PwDs within the time-frame, the expert committee will take the final decision, it was informed. It may be mentioned that state government in its notification on August 13, 2019, stated: “In pursuance of Section 34 of The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the government of Nagaland is pleased to reserve with immediate effect 4% of the vacancy in favour of persons with benchmark disabilities.”