Malappuram: The government has issued an order saying that horizontal reservation pattern should be followed for appointing persons with disabilities in posts of teaching and non-teaching staff in the aided colleges in the state. The latest order has put an end to the uncertainty regarding reservation for persons with disabilities in the private colleges. The state government, in 2016, has published an order allowing 4% employment reservation for persons with disabilities, as per the guidelines of the central government.
However, there have been complaints that many deserving candidates lost opportunities due to confusions regarding the reservation method. As per the latest order, persons with disabilities should be appointed in the order of 1, 26, 51 and 76 in each block of twenty-five candidates. Candidates would be appointed in the order of blind, deaf, physical disability, loco motor disability or cerebral palsy.
This order is applicable to the arts and science colleges, engineering colleges, training institutes, Arabic colleges and polytechnics in the aided sector. 3% reservation should be allowed for persons with disabilities between 2 February 1996 and 18 April 2017. Meanwhile, it is 4% after that. Institutes that haven’t done any appointment until now should consider this as backlog and make new appointments. Meanwhile, appointments done until now could be reduced in the backlog.
In case there aren’t any applicants for the posts that are reserved for persons with disabilities, the vacancies should be published again. The rotation could be altered if there aren’t any applicants in the second round too. For example, if there aren’t any applicants for the vacancies that are reserved for blind people, the seats could be reserved for deaf persons. However, the nature of the post should be clearly mentioned in the vacancy advertisement. In case the universities have to renew their guidelines in order to fulfil the latest order, then it should be done within 3 months. The order issued by the social justice department states that various committees have been entrusted to prepare the backlog.
Meanwhile, government’s new order could create problems for the universities that follow vertical reservation methods. A suit filed by those who have been denied opportunities due to this method is currently under the consideration of the court.
Horizontal reservation
In the horizontal method, four posts should be ensured for persons with disabilities if 100 candidates are appointed. If there aren’t any applicants reserved for the posts reserved for the blind, then it should be given to the next candidate with disability. It ensures 4% reservation for persons with disabilities. However, in the vertical method, if there aren’t applicants for a post reserved for certain disability, it wouldn’t be given to a candidate with another form of disability.
For instance, in this method, if there aren’t any applicants to the posts of blind persons, the posts wouldn’t be offered to a deaf applicant. This post would then be added in the general category. So, there would be a significant dip in the total number of seats reserved for candidates with disabilities.