Bombay HC: UPSC must get a fresh functional finding before rejecting a disabled candidate

The Bombay High Court, in Teklal Kumar Das v. Secretary, Union Public Service Commission, set aside a Central Administrative Tribunal order and remanded for fresh consideration the case of a Scheduled Caste candidate with 55% disability in both legs, who had cleared all three stages of the UPSC's Combined Geo-Scientist Examination, 2022 for a Geophysicist, Group 'A' post reserved for candidates with locomotor disability. Though the Central Standing Medical Board had certified him fit under the physically-handicapped category, the Ministry of Mines rejected his candidature on the ground that the post's prescribed functional classification covered hearing or one-limb impairment, not both-legs disability, and the Tribunal dismissed his challenge in a brief, unreasoned order. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait M. Sethna, in a judgment pronounced on 3 November 2026, held that the Tribunal's order was cryptic and failed to resolve the contradiction between the Medical Board's fitness certificate and the Ministry's rejection.

Invoking the Supreme Court's exposition of 'reasonable accommodation' under Section 2(y) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, read with Article 41 of the Constitution and Articles 14 and 21, the Court held that the concept must be construed broadly to secure full and effective participation of persons with disabilities, and is itself a facet of their fundamental rights. It remanded the matter to the Medical Board for a fresh, specific finding on whether the petitioner can functionally discharge the post's duties, continuing the interim order reserving the post for him pending that outcome.