Those with autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability, mental illnesses and deaf-blindness will also be entitled to 1 per cent reservation.
In an effort to help acid attack victims, the central government has decided to give them reservation in central government job vacancies and promotions.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has made a draft policy where it proposes vacancies, promotions quotas and age relaxation for persons suffering from autism, mental illness, intellectual disability and victims of acid attack. This job vacancies reservation will be for the post of office assistant to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers.
The DoPT states in the draft policy, “In case of direct recruitment, four per cent of the total number of vacancies in the cadre strength in each group of the posts, i.e. A, B, C and D, shall be reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities”.
Benchmark disabilities have been defined as blindness, low vision, deafness, hardness of hearing, locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy and cured leprosy.
Besides acid victims, those with autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability, mental illnesses and deaf-blindness (a combination of sight and hearing loss) will also be entitled to 1 per cent reservation.
Intellectual disability is a condition characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem solving) and in adaptive behaviour which covers a range of everyday skills.
The guideline says “In case of promotions, four per cent of the total number of vacancies in the cadre strength in each group of posts, i.e in Groups D and C, will be reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities”.
Only those with such disabilities — with not less than 40 per cent of a specified disability — will be eligible for reservations in posts/services, the draft said. The provisions have been made to ensure that reservation for people with disabilities is not adjusted against the posts meant for those from Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Classes.
According to the guideline, reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs is called vertical reservation and the reservation for categories such as persons with benchmark disabilities and ex-servicemen is called horizontal reservation. The DoPT has sought suggestions on the draft policy from all central government departments within the next 15 days.