Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM opens up higher Civil Services to Disabled

In a major initiative that will benefit physically challenged persons qualifying in the Civil Services Examination, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has approved the appointment of a physically challenged scheduled caste candidate, Mr. M. Satish, who had qualified in the Civil Services Examination, 2002, to the Indian Revenue Service.

Mr. Satish had made a representation to the Government of India in September 2003 stating that while he had qualified in the Civil Services Exam (CSE) 2002, securing a rank of 249 and his name had been recommended to the Department of Personnel & Training for allocation of a suitable service / post. While he was qualified to be allocated to the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), he was not allocated to any post/service for being physically challenged (right hand polio).

The Government had failed at that time to take any action. On October 13, 2004, Mr. Satish represented once again to the Prime Minister. Dr. Manmohan Singh ordered immediate enquiry into the case and after due examination of the case, the Government of India has now cleared his immediate allocation to the Indian Revenue Service. He has been directed to join the training course already in progress. The Department of Revenue has been directed to identify a suitable post for him before the completion of his training course.

These orders are in line with an earlier order issued by the Prime Minister for reservation of 3% of the 85 posts in the IAS for the CSE 2005-06 batch for persons with disabilities. Under this order 3 posts in IAS had been reserved for persons with disabilities as follows: one for blindness or low vision; one for hearing impairment; and one for locomotor disability or cerebral palsy.

The ministries controlling the other central services, namely, Indian Police Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Forest Service have also been asked to examine the applicability of the Physical Disability Act, 1995 and reservation of 3% in these respective services for the 'physically handicapped', and report to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet within three months.

With this decision of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the higher civil services of the country, 'non-technical' Group A and Group B services, have now been opened up for the first time to physically challenged persons.