Bhudev Sharma vs District Judge, Bulandshahr & Anr
- SCC(2008) 1 SCC 233
- Neutral2007 INSC 1111
- SCR[2007] 11 SCR 730
Ratio decidendi
The rule this decision rests on
Where a government order reserves a specified percentage of posts for persons with physical disabilities in direct recruitment, and the percentage calculation yields a fraction greater than 0.5, that fraction must be rounded up to the next whole number to determine the actual number of reserved posts. A physically disabled candidate who is the only applicant from the reserved category is entitled to be appointed to a post reserved under such a reservation scheme, notwithstanding that the selection process may not have initially selected him through the general merit process.
Written by Miss Lucy from the judgment below, not taken from a headnote.
Judgment
As delivered
1. This appeal has been filed against the impugned judgment of the Allahabad High Court dated 23.05.2001 in Special Appeal No. 445 of 2001. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
2. The appellant is a blind man. He appeared in the recruitment test held in the year 1992 for selecting candidates for Class-III Posts in Bulandshahr Judgeship in U.P. However, he was not selected and hence he filed a writ petition which was allowed by a learned Single Judge of the Allahabad High Court by his judgment dated 25.09.1997. Against that judgment the State Government filed a letters patent appeal which has been allowed by the impugned judgment by the Division Bench. Hence this appeal.
3. The appellant has relied on G.O. dated 26.08.1993 which is Annexure P-I to this appeal. That G.O. states that the U.P. Government has reserved 2 per cent posts for physically handicapped persons for direct recruitment in all groups of Government services. The physically handicapped persons are those who are blind, deaf and dumb and otherwise handicapped. There were altogether 30 posts for which the selection was held. 2 per cent of 30 is 0.6. Since 0.6 is more than half we round it off and hold that one out of the 30 posts is reserved for physically handicapped persons. Since there was no other physically handicapped person who applied, in our opinion, the appellant was entitled to the post reserved for physically handicapped persons.
4. In this view of the matter, the appeal is allowed, the impugned judgment of the Division Bench is set aside and it is directed that the appellant be appointed on a Class-III Post in Bulandshahr Judgeship forthwith.
5. We are informed that the appellant is already working on the post in view of the interim order of this Court. Hence he shall be regularized and allowed to continue working as a regular Class-III employee and shall be given all the consequential benefits.
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