Disability Commissioner to Railways: Disability is not a medical disqualification
By a recent order passed in December 2014, the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities directed the Railways to appoint an one-leg disabled candidate, Prashant Kumar, to the post of Electrical Engineer, negating the stand of the Railways that Mr. Kumar could not be appointed as his disability amounted to a medical disqualification. APJF’s Disability Law Initiative (DLI) represented Prashant Kumar and argued that when the Central Government by a notifcation in 2013 had declared that the post of Electrical Engineer was suitable for one-leg impaired persons, the Railways could not regard him as medically unfit for the job. DLI further argued that in matters of employment, disability cannot be treated as a medical deficiency but rather the deficiency in accommodation of the disabled persons’ needs vis-a-vis the workplace environment must be attended to.