SC allows persons with disabilities to provisionally opt for IPS, DANIPS and IRPFS

New Delhi, March 25

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 The Supreme Court on Friday allowed persons with disabilities to provisionally opt for Indian Police Service (IPS), DANIPS and Indian Railway Protection Force Services (IRPFS) as their preferences in the civil services by submitting their application forms to the UPSC by April 1.

The interim order came from a Bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar on a petition filed by ‘National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled’.

The petitioner has challenged the Centre’s 2021 notification excluding persons with disabilities from certain central services, including the Indian Police Service (IPS), the Indian Railways Protection Force Service (IRPFS) and the Delhi, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Police Service (DANIPS).

Attorney General K K Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought time for filing the Centre’s response to the petition.

On behalf of the petitioners, senior advocate Arvind Datar said the exams were over and those who have cleared it were required to file their preferences latest by March 24 evening. Datar urged the Bench to extend the deadline by a week or two.

Terming the request as “the most reasonable”, it directed the UPSC to accept hard copies of the applications of the candidates concerned submitted physically on or before April 1 before 4 PM.

Terming it as “illegal and arbitrary,” the petitioners assailed the 2021 notification that excludes persons with disabilities from combat roles and certain administrative posts.

The petitioner accused the Centre of indulging in a colorable exercise of powers under Section 34 of the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act by making a blanket exclusion of all categories of posts in IPS, DANIPS and IRPFS without consulting the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities.

The September 2021 notification went against an advertisement issued by Delhi Police in 2019 providing reservation for persons with disabilities, it said.