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The State of Kerala & Ors. v. Leesamma Joseph

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 309Decided 28 Jun 2021
Civil Appeal No. 59 of 2021
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul · Justice R. Subhash Reddy

Background

The respondent, who has a 55% locomotor disability, was appointed as a typist/clerk in the Kerala Police Department on compassionate grounds after her brother's death, not under the disability quota. She later sought promotion benefits reserved for persons with disabilities (PwD), which the Kerala Administrative Tribunal denied on the ground that the relevant rules provided for reservation only at the entry/recruitment stage, not in promotions. The Kerala High Court set aside the Tribunal's order and ruled in her favour.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court, assisted by an amicus curiae, held that the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 mandates reservation for PwD in promotions as well as recruitment, and that this must be computed against the total cadre strength regardless of whether posts are filled by direct recruitment or promotion. It further held that the absence of specific promotion rules, or the fact that an employee entered service through a different channel (such as compassionate appointment) rather than the disability quota, cannot be used to deny a genuinely disabled employee the benefit of reservation in promotion. The Court dismissed the State's appeal, upheld the High Court's order granting the respondent promotion benefits, and directed Kerala to identify reservable posts and implement reservation in promotion within three months.

Lesson Learnt

A person with a disability cannot be denied promotion-related reservation benefits merely because they did not originally join service through the disability quota: what matters is their disability status at the time promotion is being considered.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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