ISLAMABAD: The Sup­reme Court on Friday ordered the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) Lahore to use “persons with disabilities” or “persons with different abilities” instead of “disabled” — to refer to people with special needs — in public advertisements, notifications, and official correspondence.

“We are hopeful that in the future these terms will be incorporated in the official correspondence as well as relevant notifications, including public advertisements, issued by the government,” observed Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah in a judgement he wrote.

The eight-page verdict also directed to retain the seats earmarked for minorities or persons with disabilities (PWD) instead of opening these to the general quota in case these reserved seats could not be filled in a particular year.

Justice Shah was heading a three-judge Supreme Court consisting of Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Shahid Waheed that had taken up an appeal against the March 8, 2019 Lahore High Court (LHC) order.

Judgement says quota for persons with disabilities and minorities reaffirms constitutional commitment

Petitioner Mubarik Ali Babar had approached the court to challenge an LHC order which had dismissed his plea that if the special quota remains unfilled in a particular year, the seats reserved against these posts be made available to other deserving candidates applying under the general quota on open merit.

The controversy at hand involves seats reserved for minorities and PWDs in the Combined Competitive Examination 2015 conducted by the PPSC. In the advertisement issued by PPSC for the post in the Provincial Management Service (BS-17) under the Service and General Administration Depart­ment (SGAD) Punjab, out of 62 posts, 53 posts were on open merit, six posts for PWDs, and three posts for minorities.

Rights of minorities and PWDs

To safeguard the rights of the minorities and PWDs and to provide equality of status and opportunities, the state should endeavour to bridge the gap and ensure that differently-abled persons and non-Muslim minorities should get to enjoy their fundamental rights under the constitution with the same fervour and force as enjoyed by the Muslim majority and majority of persons with fuller abilities, the Supreme Court held. Hence other than the general seats, the additional provision of quota for PWDs and minorities reaffirms the constitutional commitment, it said.

Justice Shah observed that the word “minorities” signifies merely a statistical number, representing a class of people in the country who were non-Muslims and in no manner does it imply that they were lesser citizens or in any manner less entitled to the fundamental rights. The majority (Muslims) and the minority (non-Muslims) together constitute the paradigm of Pakistan. “Our national flag stands higher because it represents both the Muslims and non-Muslims,” it said, adding moving towards an inclusive society was getting closer to realising our constitutional values.

“If society is intolerant, embarrassed, [and] exclusionary then its own imaginative heart is being restricted,” Justice Shah observed and added that its capacity for human empathy was being denied.

Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah repeatedly affirmed that as a foundational principle of Pakistan, rights of all minorities shall be safeguarded and all citizens of Pakistan were equal and have equal rights irrespective of their religion, colour, caste or creed, the judgement reminded. The order stated that Quaid-i-Azam had asserted that “minorities to whichever community they may belong, would be safeguarded and their religion or faith or belief be secured”.

At the time of the inception of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam unequivocally stated that “you are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the state … we are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state”.

To actualise the constitutional mandate and the vision of the founding father, “we have the Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabili­tation) Ordinance, 1981 which, post-18th amendment, has translated into provincial laws”.

Section 10 of the ordinance, as applicable in Punjab, provides that not less than three per cent of the total number of persons employed by an establishment at any time will be PWDs, it added.

Similarly, the March 27, 2010 notification issued under section 23 of the Punjab Civil Servants Act, 1974 by the SGAD (Regulations Wing), five per cent quota has to be reserved for minorities (non-Muslims) against the total number of posts advertised in the future, including posts to be filled on the basis of competitive examination to be conducted by the PPSC.

The judge ordered that copies of the order be dispatched to the chief secretaries of all provinces to ensure that it was complied with in letter and spirit at the national level.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2023