Lucknow, Jul 27 The Allahabad High Court has sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government over its alleged failure to comply with a 2013 order directing it to fill backlog vacancies reserved for visually impaired persons, despite the lapse of more than 13 years.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Jaspreet Singh in Lucknow passed the order on July 24 while hearing a public interest litigation by the National Federation of the Blind, Uttar Pradesh.
The court directed the state government to explain why the directions issued in its July 17, 2013, judgment had not been implemented and why the backlog vacancies reserved for visually impaired candidates remained unfilled.
Granting time to the state to file a counter affidavit, the bench fixed September 8 as the next date of hearing, according to the order.
During the hearing, the court registry placed a report stating that under the 2013 judgment, the chief secretary had been directed to file a personal affidavit within six months indicating compliance with the court's directions. However, no such affidavit or compliance report has been submitted to date.
The bench noted that the 2013 judgment had directed the state government to fill, within six months, all backlog vacancies earmarked under the one per cent reservation for visually impaired persons in government departments, corporations and local bodies.
The court had also directed the chief secretary to constitute a monitoring committee to ensure compliance with the judgment and file a personal affidavit before the court, according to the order.
The petitioner submitted that apart from not filing the compliance affidavit, the state had also failed to implement the substantive direction to fill the backlog vacancies.
Taking note of the submission, the bench directed the state government to file a specific response on that aspect as well.
