Can’t bar visually impaired from becoming judges: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: In a landmark verdict geared toward defending rights of differently-abled individuals and making the judiciary extra accommodative and inclusive, SC Monday dominated that visually impaired individuals can’t be barred from becoming judges and quashed a MP legislation that prohibited such individuals from showing in judicial exams. It said that incapacity isn’t any barrier to excelling within the authorized occupation.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan held that medical evaluation of incapacity by medical consultants can’t be the premise to disclaim advantages underneath Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act and cheap lodging have to be offered to them as a prerequisite to assessing their eligibility.
“Visually impaired candidates cannot be said to be ‘not suitable’ for judicial service and they are eligible to participate in selection for posts in judicial service. The amendment made in Rule 6A of Madhya Pradesh Judicial Service (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1994 falls foul of the Constitution, and is hence, struck down to the extent that it does not include visually impaired persons who are educationally qualified for the post to apply,” Justice Mahadevan, who penned the decision, stated.
Quoting Louis Braille who was himself blind and invented ‘Braille’, Justice Mahadevan stated what the visually impaired wanted was not pity or sympathy however lodging and directed {that a} separate cut-off was to be maintained for visually-impaired candidates. Highlighting that Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act was not being applied in judiciary with as many as 11 HCs – Jammu and Kashmir, Calcutta, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Allahabad, Karnataka, Bombay and Tripura – don’t present for any reservation or concession to PwDs within the recruitment of judges.
Pointing out contributions made by varied jurists in India who’re otherwise abled, the SC stated they’ve “demonstrated that visual impairment was no barrier to attaining professional excellence, competing on equal footing, and making significant contributions to the justice delivery system alongside their able-bodied counterparts”.