LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the federal government to appoint two visually impaired candidates, who qualified the Central Superior Services (CSS) exam, in their desired service groups.

Allowing petition of Faisal Majeed and Muhammad Yousaf who achieved distinction in the 2014 CSS exam, Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah also struck down Section 9 (2) of the competitive examination rules that restricted recruitment of blind persons to four service groups -- information, audit and accounts, commerce and trade and postal service.

The petitioners’ counsel argued that Mr Majeed and Mr Yousaf had preferred District Management Group (DMG) and Foreign Service, respectively. However, he said, both petitioners were forced to join information group.

The lawyer pointed out that the rules of the Federal Public Service Commission did not allow appointment of the blind/disabled persons in eight groups, including Foreign Service and DMG, despite meeting the open merit.

The counsel argued that the impugned restriction was discriminatory in nature and unconstitutional.

The commission’s counsel defended the rules and argued that the court could not interfere in policy matters of the government.

The chief justice observed the rules appeared to be discriminatory and violate the fundamental rights. He said the court would not allow the government to treat the disabled persons in a discriminatory manner.

The chief justice allowed the petitions and directed the government to appoint the petitioners as per their choice.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2017