Vivek Kumar Singh at Dhatkidih Community Centre in Jamshedpur on Friday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

A Jamshedpur-based visually challenged man, who cleared Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) exams in 2012 but did not get a job, is waiting for action from Jharkhand High Court.

Vivek Kumar Singh (36), falling under low-vision category, had passed both the prelims and mains of fourth combined civil services examinations 2012 under JPSC. When his name didn’t figure on the merit list after the interview, he filed a right to information (RTI) petition to know from JPSC about how many disabled persons got selected. Getting no reply, he moved court in February 2013 with a writ petition.

He is still waiting.

Going by Vivek’s version, JPSC’s conduct violates The Persons with Disabilities (equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation) Act 1995, which stipulates 3 per cent reservation for the disabled in government jobs.

A postgraduate in sociology with a diploma in community-based rehabilitation, Vivek said he and pro-disabled NGO Jharkhand Viklang Manch filed an RTI on November 30, 2012.

“No response has come till date, March 15, 2013. I passed the prelims of the fourth civil services exam of JPSC held in March 2011, results of which were announced in January 2012. Then I appeared for the mains between May 25 and June 15, 2012. I learnt I passed from the results published on September 18, 2012. I was interviewed on November 2012 but my name did not figure on the merit list of 219 candidates,” Vivek said.

What aroused his suspicion was the lack of separate reservation columns for the disabled on the merit list.

“There were columns for unreserved (general), Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, OBC I and OBC II categories, but none for the disabled. JPSC’s silence to our RTI plea forced us to move court,” said Vivek.

When he applied for the JPSC exam, forms had clearly mentioned “horizontal reservation for the disabled”, he added.

Contacted, JPSC controller of examinations S.K. Sinha expressed ignorance about any RTI. “We adhere to horizontal reservation for the disabled based on departmental vacancies in the general (unreserved) category,” he said.

Elaborating on the process, he said: “According to the Jharkhand government circular, there needs to be more than 33 seats in any particular department to activate the 3 per cent horizontal reservation for the disabled. In the fourth JPSC exam, no department had that many seats.”

The JPSC exam recruited candidates for administrative, police, registration, information and corporate departments.

Do you think Vivek Kumar Singh received a raw deal from the JPSC?

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