Cuttack, Feb. 2: Controversy over the appointment of social activist Minati Behera as State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities has taken a new turn with Orissa High Court restraining her from discharging her role.

Behera was appointed in April, 2015, after chief minister Naveen Patnaik had approved her name from among the three persons recommended by a government's search committee for the quasi-judiciary post. The move faced criticism and there were demands for her removal from the post, because she had no experience in the disability sector.

In June last, K. Ananda, general secretary of the Ganjam District Orthopaedically Handicapped Welfare Association, had filed a petition challenging her appointment. The petition came up for hearing today.

"After a preliminary hearing, the single-judge bench of Justice B.R. Sarangi issued an interim stay order on the appointment and posted the matter to March 1 for hearing, along with the state government's reply," said advocate Pitambar Acharya, who argued on behalf of the petitioner.

"Our basic contention is that she was chosen in spite of her not fulfilling the eligibility criteria. Besides, no ground was assigned why she was preferred among the three others, whom the search committee had recommended for the post," Acharya said.

The petitioner was one of the 21 applicants for the post. Incidentally, Behera of the BJD is a member of the Jagatsinghpur zilla parishad from zone-III (Tirtol). The other two persons recommended by the search committee were Snehamanjari Mishra and Rina Mohanty.

In March 2010, for the first time, an independent State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (SCPD) was appointed in the state. Earlier, secretary of the women and child welfare department was ex-officio in charge of the post. Behera had succeeded Kasturi Mohapatra following her retirement.

According to the government notification, the eligibility criteria for the SCPD includes 15 years of experience in one or more organisations dealing with disability related matters and/or social sector (health, education, poverty alleviation and child development). Out of the 15 years, at least three years of experience in the recent past should be in the field of empowerment of persons with disabilities.

The SCPD with quasi-judiciary powers is expected to take suo motu cognisance of violation of rights of persons with disabilities and issue notice to the erring parties.