ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has directed the University of Malakand to formulate a policy by December 25 to allocate at least 19 jobs for physically challenged persons.

Once the policy is formulated, the case of petitioner Sajjad Ali should be duly considered afresh by the university, said a verdict authored by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.

But at the same time, the criteria of merit and qualification should not be compromised at any cost, the SC order added.

Mr Ali had applied for the grade 18 post of lecturer in the subject of Pharmacy at the University of Malakand, situated at Chakdara in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), against the disability quota.

The petition was taken up by a two-judge Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi on Oct 24.

Malakand university given over three weeks to ensure provision of 19 jobs to physically challenged persons

The petitioner through his counsel Nasir Mahmood had pleaded that his request was turned down by the university on the grounds that only one post of lecturer in the subject of Pharmacy was advertised and that two per cent quota prescribed under the law for disabled persons could not be worked out against the advertised post.

In his verdict, Justice Shah observed that the court examined sections 10 and 12 of the Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance, 1981, which was amended through the KP Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) (Amendment) Act, 2012.

These provisions mandate that not less than two per cent of the total number of persons employed by an establishment at any time will be disabled persons.

Therefore, under section 10 of the law, the order said, the quota for disabled persons in an establishment was calculated on the basis of the total number of persons employed by the establishment and not on the basis of the number of posts advertised at a given time.

Therefore, sections 10 and 12 must also be given full effect, the order said, adding that under section 12, a disabled person desirous of getting employed has to ensure that his name was registered with the Employment Exchange of the area.

Additionally, the provincial council has to assess the nature of functional disability of the person and also as to his aptitude and the nature of work the person was fit to do.

If the provincial council is of the opinion that the disabled person is fit to work it will inform the employment exchange, indicating the nature of work for which the person may be employed, the order said.

It said the total quota of 2 per cent calculated on the basis of the fixed number of the employees in an establishment is then given effect through the information collected by the employment exchange with the assistance of the provincial council.

Calculating the quota under section 10 will not lead to much result if the exercise under section 12 has not been undertaken, especially regarding the nature of work a disabled person is fit to perform, the order explained.

The university, in light of these provisions as well as the law, has worked out the total number of persons employed at the university to be 966 persons.

Advocate Rehman Ullah while representing the university along with departmental representative contended that according to the total strength of the employees of the university, two per cent quota for the disabled persons comes out to be 19 seats and that the university was willing to allocate the quota for disabled persons.

The defence counsel also argued that the university was in the process of formulating a policy for the allocation of this quota for disabled persons and as soon as it was done the case of the petitioner would be considered in the light of the new policy.

The SC left the matter with the varsity to evolve a policy for disabled persons and for the allocation of the 19 posts for disabled persons. The order, however, cautioned the university that while formulating the policy, it will ensure that although disabled persons will have a separate quota under the ordinance, the, merit would not be compromised and same threshold qualification, standard and eligibility will be maintained as in the case of regular appointment.

“It is in this context that the assessment of the provincial council regarding the nature of work a disabled person is fit to perform becomes relevant and crucial,” the judgement concluded.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2019