Special allotment: SHC orders disabled persons’ employment quota

The matter comes under provincial government’s jurisdiction after the 18th Amendment.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered the provincial and federal governments on Tuesday to implement the provision of the Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance 1981 that calls for one per cent special quota for people with disabilities.

Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, who headed the bench, gave three months to the provincial and federal governments for the submission of a detailed compliance report on the implementation.

In what may be considered a rare verdict, the two-judges bench passed this order on a petition seeking the implementation of the ordinance. A group of the special persons, including Amin Mohammad, had taken the federal and provincial authorities to court.

The petitioners recalled that the ordinance was originally a federal issue, prior to the Constitution's 18th Amendment, that allowed the devolution of several federal subjects, including the special persons, to the provinces.

They mentioned that the Punjab government has already enacted a provincial law - the Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) (Amendment) Act 2012 - but Sindh is yet to do so.

They pleaded to the court to order the concerned authorities to implement the ordinance in the absence of a provincial law concerning employment of people with disabilities.

The petitioners, four of whom were terminated from service by the Hyderabad district department, had also requested to the court to declare their termination as illegal.

On Tuesday, the Sindh chief secretary filed comments and said that while the one per cent quota is implemented in certain departments, various posts in other departments are yet to be filled.

However, the judges found that various provisions of the Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance 1981 have not been complied with.

"We, therefore, direct the respondent (Secretary of the Government of Pakistan) to comply with the provisions of Section 3 of the Ordinance and furnish a detailed and comprehensive report as to what action has been taken in this regard within three months," ordered Justice Khan.

The bench further ordered the Sindh chief secretary to also comply with the Sections 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 and added that a compliance report for that should also be submitted within three months.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2014.