Summary
The Supreme Court directed TANGEDCO to employ a selected electrical engineer with mild colour-vision deficiency as Assistant Engineer in a suitable department. With no prescribed colour-vision eligibility norm and scope for accommodation within its organisation, blanket rejection was unjustified. A Junior Assistant post was inadequate to his qualification. He received continuity of service and 50% arrears of salary and allowances.
Issues
- Whether mild colour-vision deficiency justified rejection without prescribed eligibility norms.
- Whether reasonable accommodation required suitable Assistant Engineer duties rather than a lower clerical post.
Provisions considered
- Sections 2(y) and 3, Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016The reasonable-accommodation framework informed the employer’s obligation to make suitable adjustments without disproportionate or undue burden, alongside the constitutional equality principle. (¶ 19–27)
Held
- Although job-related fitness concerns were legitimate, TANGEDCO had prescribed no colour-vision norm and could not use a general fitness assertion to deny all possibility of accommodation. (¶¶ 17, 25)
- The appellant fell outside the Act’s specified categories and benchmark eligibility, requiring the Court to apply the broader principle of substantive equality and reasonable accommodation. The Court did not confer benchmark reservation eligibility. (¶ 18–25)
- Offering a Junior Assistant post did not suitably recognise the appellant’s engineering qualification. The organisation had Assistant Engineer positions in general, material-management and other units, with safeguards available for occasional field duties. (¶ 26–27)
- The employer must appoint and continue him as Assistant Engineer at the appropriate pay stage from termination or cancellation, with suitable responsibilities, full service continuity from original appointment and 50% salary and allowance arrears. (¶ 28)
Result
Appeal allowed; impugned judgment set aside. Suitable Assistant Engineer employment, continuity and 50% salary and allowance arrears directed, without costs.