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New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) The Delhi High Court has asked State Bank of India (SBI) to reconsider whether further relaxation or reasonable accommodation can be given in the confirmation examination for probationary officers with benchmark disabilities, noting that the public sector bank must ensure that the mandate of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016 is not failed.
A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Madhu Jain was hearing a petition filed by a visually impaired candidate who was dismissed from service after failing to clear the confirmation test twice.
The petitioner, who suffers from 100 per cent blindness and belongs to the OBC category, had joined State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ) in 2015, which later merged with SBI.
He challenged his dismissal and the validity of Rule 16 of the SBI Officers Service Rules, 1992, arguing that it discriminated against Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) by treating them at par with general candidates.
The petition argued that “equal treatment may lead to unequal results” and sought to recognize the “right to access to opportunity” as part of Article 21 of the Constitution.
Rejecting the petitioner’s plea for reservation in the confirmation examination, the Delhi High Court said that the RPWD Act “does not provide for further reservation at that stage”, as reservation is applicable at the time of recruitment and not at the time of confirmation.
While the bench led by Justice Chawla rejected the plea to quash and quash the rule, it stressed that SBI must act in accordance with the spirit of the RPWD Act.
The Delhi High Court said, “The respondents (bank officials) cannot defeat the purpose of the RPWD Act or take away what it gives to the Divyangjan by virtue of the mandate of the Act.”
It directed SBI to “consider whether further relaxations can be made in the confirmation examination for the purpose of accommodating the petitioner and other PWD candidates or whether further and reasonable accommodation can be given to such candidates in the manner or mode of the confirmation examination so as to ensure that the mandate of the RPWD Act is not failed.”
The Justice Chawla-led bench gave the bank four weeks to take a decision and inform the petitioner, and said that if a more comfortable standard or modified testing mode is introduced, “the same benefit will be extended to the petitioner by giving him another chance to participate in the screening test”.
–IANS
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