All Departments Of State Govt Should Consider Representations By Persons With Disabilities At Earliest: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has asked the Chief Secretary of the Tamil Nadu state to issue a necessary circular to all State Government Departments to ensure that all representations submitted by Persons with Disabilities should be considered at the earliest. “We are inclined to issue a direction to the Chief Secretary, State of Tamil Nadu, to issue necessary circular within one month directing all the departments of the State Government to ensure that whenever any appeal, or representation, or application is submitted by persons with disabilities, every endeavour is made to decide the same betimes,” the court said. The bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan observed that the authorities should act with a greater degree of sensitivity and empathy while dealing with applications/appeals by persons with disabilities. The court added that when a constitutional and statutory obligation is put on the State to work for the welfare of persons with disabilities, such petitions should not be kept pending for a long time. “When such is the constitutional as well as statutory mandate, the State Government is expected to act in furtherance of such objective and while considering the applications, or grievances, or appeals of persons with disabilities, the authorities of the State Government should act with greater degree of sensitivity and empathy than in other cases. The cases of persons with disabilities should be given precedence and the authorities should earnestly put their heads down to dispose of their applications, or grievances, or appeals betimes, rather than keeping it pending for a long time,” the court said. The court was taking up a petition by a man, Somasundaram, seeking direction to the Collector (Tirupattur District) and the Revenue Divisional Officer (Tirupattur District), to dispose his appeal challenging the rejection of community certificate to him and his daughters. Somasundaram submitted that he belonged to the “Kurumans” Scheduled Tribe community and had given an application for issuance of a community certificate. When this application was rejected, he filed an appeal with the District Collector on January 10, 2023, which has been kept pending since. The petitioner submitted that in the meantime, the notification for recruitment to the post of Graduate Assistant, Physical Director, etc., was issued to which he had applied. The petitioner submitted that the process of selection was on the verge of completion, and if his appeal was decided, he could apply to the post reserved under the category ST CAT 1 [Blindness and Low Vision – 1% reservation], as he was visually impaired with percentage of disability assessed at 40%. The court noted that as per the mandate under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the government had a bounden duty to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy various rights, such as right to equality, life with dignity, respect for his integrity, etc. The court added that as per Article 41 of the Constitution, the State had an obligation to make provisions for safeguarding the interest of persons with disabilities. In the present case, the court noted that the appeal had been pending since 2023 and thus, directed the Collector to decide the appeal on its own merits within 30 days from the date of receipt of order copy. Though the petitioner also requested the court to direct that one post be kept vacant, the court gave liberty to the petitioner to challenge the selection process, if the community certificate was issued in his favour. Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. V. Elangovan Counsel for Respondents: Mr. E. Vijay Anand Additional Government Pleader Case Title: C Somasundaram v. The Chairman, Teachers Recruitment Board and Others Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Mad) 478 Case No: W.P.No.47712 of 2025 Click Here To Read/Download The Judgment

All Departments Of State Govt Should Consider Representations By Persons With Disabilities At Earliest: Madras High Court

Upasana Sajeev

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