Persons With Disabilities Get Reservation in Promotion Even if Not Recruited in PwD Quota: Supreme Court

The respondent was appointed as a typist-clerk in the Kerala Police Department in 1996 on compassionate grounds after her brother died in service, and she had a permanent disability (para 4). She claimed promotion with the benefit of reservation for persons with disabilities; the Kerala Administrative Tribunal dismissed her claim in 2015, holding that Section 33 did not provide for reservation in promotion, but the High Court allowed it in 2020 (paras 2, 6). The State argued that a person not recruited through the PwD quota cannot claim it in promotion (paras 3, 9).

The case, governed by the 1995 Act, did not have to await the clarification sought on the 2016 Act's new proviso on promotion (paras 10-11). Sections 32 and 33 must be read with Section 47, which guarantees equal opportunity in career progression; denying promotion to persons with disabilities and confining reservation to entry would negate the law and cause stagnation (paras 13-14). Reservation is computed on the total vacancies in the cadre, with no distinction between direct recruitment and promotion, as Ravi Prakash Gupta and National Federation of the Blind held (paras 15, 17-18). Section 32 cannot be used to frustrate Section 33; posts in the promotional cadre must be identified and reserved (paras 19-20). If posts cannot be reserved for functional reasons, the government must find other ways to address stagnation (paras 21-22). The 2016 Act's duty of reasonable accommodation, explained in Vikash Kumar, supports this reading (paras 23-25). Excluding an employee with benchmark disability only because she entered through another channel would be discriminatory (para 27).