The principle of reasonable accommodation under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act mandates that all individuals with disabilities are entitled to employment opportunities without rigid adherence to benchmark disability criteria.

JUDGMENT :

NAVIN CHAWLA, J.

1. This appeal has been filed, challenging the Order dated 10.10.2023 passed by the learned Single Judge in W.P.(C) 13279/2023, titled Ashwin Murli vs. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. & Ors., dismissing the petition filed by the appellant herein and holding as under:

“34. In light of the foregoing discussions, this Court dismisses the instant petition on the ground that the letter dated 6th December 2022 wherein the petitioner was denied employment being medically unfit is not violative of rights, since the respondent no.1 has acted in compliance with its statutory rules. Furthermore, this Court by way of issuing writ of mandamus cannot direct the respondent no.1 to issue guidelines/rules for employment of the candidates with hearing loss of less than 40%, since such power vests with the executive/ legislature, since the same would amount to transgressing the power of this Court under its writ jurisdiction.”

FACTS OF THE CASE

2. To give a brief background of facts in which the present appeal arises, the appellant appeared in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) Instrumentation Engineering Paper, 2020, a nationwide competitive examination used by the Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) to recruit graduate engineers in technical disciplines. The appellant claims to have secured good marks in the same.

3. The appellant claims that due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the recruitment process of all PSEs was disrupted. It was only around February, 2021, that the appellant received an interview call from the National Aluminium Company Limited Corporate (NALCO) based on his score in the GATE, 2020. He was issued a provisional offer of appointment under the unreserved category for the post of Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) in NALCO on 20.10.2021. However, he was disqualified during a pre-employment medical examination dated 01.11.2021, wherein he was declared 'unfit' due to a hearing impairment.

4. The appellant, thereafter, applied for a hearing disability certificate from the Lady Hardinge Medical College, which was not granted to him on the basis of an audiogram report dated 13.12.2021 which stated that he was 'not eligible for hearing disability certificate'. This was owed to the fact that the appellant was having only 17% hearing impairment and did not meet the 40% disability required to be qualified for “benchmark disability”.

5. In the meanwhile, in February, 2021, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC)/respondent no. 1 also began their recruitment process by inviting applications for 'Recruitment of Graduate Trainees in Engineering and Geo-Sciences Disciplines at E1 level through GATE- 2020' vide Advertisement No. 2/2021 (R&P). The appellant applied under the same in the unreserved category and, on 27.10.2022, received a provisional offer for appointment letter for the post of Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) Instrumentation from the ONGC, that is, the respondent no.1.

6. Fearing rejection on similar medical grounds like in case of NALCO, the appellant pre-emptively filed a complaint in November, 2022, with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The complaint was registered as Case No. 7481/30/9/2022.

7. The appellant was, as feared, declared 'unfit' for the post of AEE by the ONGC on account of 'Profound Sensorineural Hearing Loss' in the right ear, and his provisional appointment was cancelled by the responden