Editor,
It has come to our notice that certain individuals on social media are incorrectly claiming that candidates with low vision are ineligible for the Arunachal Pradesh Engineering Services. These claims lack a proper understanding of the statutory recruitment rules and the legal framework governing reservations.
For clarity the following points to dispel this misinformation:
1. State Autonomy in Recruitment Rules: Arunachal Pradesh operates under its own Social Justice, Empowerment & Tribal Affairs Department (SJETA) and its own Recruitment Rules (RR). The State Government is an independent entity and is not bound to blindly adopt Central Government departmental rules. The APPSC advertisement itself does not reference the Central Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (MSJE) notification.
2. Legal Position under the RPwD Act, 2016: Section 33 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 explicitly states: “The appropriate Government shall identify posts for persons with benchmark disabilities.” This mandates that the State Government, not the Central Government, is the competent authority to identify suitable posts within state cadres.
3. Scope of the MSJE Notification: The MSJE notification (revised periodically) applies strictly to Central Government establishments. While it excludes persons with low vision from certain field-heavy Central services (such as the CPWD, BRO, MES, and regular Railways), it does not impose a blanket ban on low-vision candidates across all engineering services. Low-vision candidates remain fully eligible for reservation and can be allocated to planning, structural design, analytical, or estimation-oriented and the MSJE notification nowhere mention of State engineering services
4. Reservation in Higher Education Policy: Reservations for low-vision candidates actively exist in JEE Mains and JEE Advanced for entering Civil Engineering programs at premier institutes like IITs and NITs. If a low-vision candidate is capable of pursuing a Civil Engineering degree, excluding them from profession core subject in service is fundamentally illogical, contradictory, and unjust.
5. Principle of Non-Discrimination: means treating everyone the same as disabilities exist in all categories then why singling out low-vision candidates for exclusion while ignoring others is arbitrary, unfair, and discriminatory.
6. Constitutional Superiority of Supreme Court : The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has delivered landmark judgments affirming that visually impaired candidates cannot be arbitrarily excluded from state public employment including civil engineering and guidelines that unfairly discriminate against them are unconstitutional.
Under Section 20 of the RPwD Act, 2016,
the mandate of “Reasonable Accommodation” must be ensured. Executive guidelines (like MSJE notifications) are merely procedural aids for identifying posts; they cannot override the fundamental and constitutional rights interpreted by the Supreme Court. Constitutional protections strictly override executive notifications.
Appeal to fellow Divyangjan:
Dear Divyangjan members, let us continue to stand united for our common cause. Certain elements are intentionally trying to manipulate facts and divide us. Our collective struggle is against institutional discrimination, not among ourselves.
Aspiring Candidates