One per cent quota: Disabled people go to court for jobs

KARACHI: A court has summoned the province’s bureaucrats on May 30 in a petition for jobs filed by disabled residents of Karachi, Tando Allahyar, Moro, Latifabad and Hyderabad. On Monday, Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui passed the orders after hearing initial arguments. The petitioners are represented by Faisal Siddiqui Advocate and they have gone to court as they want the Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance 1981 laws followed. The petitioners are physically and mentally challenged “special citizens”. They are members of the Association for the Welfare of Handicapped Persons. Two of the seven petitions were sacked by the director of health, their lawyer said. They are relying on laws that say that government and non-government establishments must offer one per cent of their jobs to special citizens. They have argued that they are not being given jobs even though the rules exist.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2012.