The High Court on Thursday directed the Selection Authority of State Department of Public Instruction to keep vacant one per cent of posts out of the posts of primary school teachers, sought to be filled in each district of the State, pending disposal of two PILs seeking reservations for blind teachers.

 The court further said that the posts to be kept vacant shall be in the disciplines other than Science and Mathematics and that there was no impediment to filling up remaining vacancies out of the 7,895 posts notified for recruitment across the State. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice B S Patil passed an interim order to this effect in course of two PILs filed by Akhila Karnataka Andha Shikshakarugala Sangha, Mysore and Mysore Unit of National Federation of the Blind.

The petitioners have challenged the notifications issued on July 30, 2007 by different District DDPIs calling applications for selections to 7,895 primary school teachers’ posts in all, in so far as it barred visually impaired qualified teachers from applying. They have contended that such prohibition is in violation of the one per cent reservations made mandatory by Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opporutunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 in favour of visually impaired or low-visioned persons.

The bench scheduled the petitions’ hearing to February 11 for final disposal.

Provisional selection list of applied candidates has already been published for recruitments and process of actual appointments is expected to start by the end of January, 2008.