No candidate to be denied of consideration in judicial services due to disability: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday held that no candidate can be denied consideration in judicial services solely on account of their disability, as reasonable accommodation must be provided to them in assessing their eligibility in terms of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan struck down a rule of the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Services Rules to the extent it barred visually impaired and low vision candidates from judicial service.

The court declared that visually impaired and low vision candidates would be entitled to participate in the selection for the judicial service posts.

In its judgment in a suo motu matter, the bench said the persons with disabilities must not face any discrimination in their pursuit of judicial service recruitments and that the State must provide them affirmative action to ensure an inclusive framework.

The court last year registered the suo motu case based on a letter by the mother of a candidate.

The matter related to validity of Rule 6A of the Madhya Pradesh Services Examination (Recruitment and Conditions of Services) Rules 1994. The court had reserved its order on December 3, 2024.

Delivering its judgment, the court said it dealt with the constitutional framework and institutional disability framework and treated the case as the most important one.