The right against discrimination of persons with disability has the same stature as a fundamental right, the Supreme Court on Monday said as it struck down a rule that prevented the blind or those with low vision to join the judicial service in Madhya Pradesh.
Finding that such a discrimination went against the legal mandate of equal opportunity provided under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (RPwD Act), a catena of judicial decisions expanding the ambit of protection for persons with disabilities (PwD), India’s international obligations, and examples in the past of how visually disabled judges across the world have excelled in the profession, the top court said that such a rule has no place in the legal landscape.
A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said, “It is high time that we view the right against disability-based discrimination, as recognised in the RPwD Act 2016, of the same stature as a fundamental right, thereby ensuring that no candidate is denied consideration solely on account of their disability.”
The court was deciding a suo motu petition instituted in January 2024 on a letter received from the mother of a blind candidate nursing ambitions of joining the judicial service in Madhya Pradesh. While the top court at the time permitted the MP high court to allow the candidate to appear in the examination, the validity of Rule 6A of Madhya Pradesh Judicial Services (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1994 remained for consideration -- and the rule was finally struck down.
The 122-page judgment, written by justice Mahadevan, said, “The principle of reasonable accommodation, as enshrined in international conventions, established jurisprudence, and the RPwD Act, 2016, mandates that accommodations be provided to PwDs as a prerequisite to assessing their eligibility.”
The court held, “Any indirect discrimination that results in the exclusion of PwDs, whether through rigid cut-offs or procedural barriers, must be interfered with, in order to uphold substantive equality.”
Justice Mahadevan said, “The Constitution of India is blind to the differences between able-bodied and differently abled citizens in matters of providing equal opportunity to all citizens in all spheres of life, including employment, and envisages equality and non-discrimination.”
Adopting a rights-based approach, the judgment added that constitutional courts have a duty to provide an enabling environment and atmosphere to ensure PwDs get equal opportunities and accommodation to enable them lead their lives with dignity, realising their fullest potential without facing discrimination.
Rule 6A was introduced in the MP Judicial Service Rules in 2018 pursuant to a medical opinion given to the state that blind or visually handicapped persons cannot perform judicial work. The court said, “The impugned rule, which is based on the medical report of a doctor, in the light of the foregoing analysis, cannot have any place in the disability jurisprudence that is ever evolving in a country like ours.”
To be sure, the Centre has no bar for the blind to join the judiciary, and a notification issued on January 4, 2021 identified “posts of judges, magistrates, subordinate judiciary” as suitable for PwD including blind persons.
The bench reasoned that once a person with low vision or blindness is permitted to obtain a law course, “all other opportunities, whether in the form of practice as well as appointments, assignments whether public or private, would automatically make them eligible to participate for selection to the same”.
The court directed the MP high court to proceed with the selection process for appointment of judicial officers by incorporating the court’s directions, preferably within a period of three months.