Disabled civil servant fights govt for IAS slot

Nilanjana Sengupta / TNN / Jun 9, 2006, 01:56 IST

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Priyesh Bheda fights his own case against the government, for allotting him IPFAS despite him being the topper among the four physically handicapped candidates selected.

Disabled civil servant fights govt for IAS slot

MUMBAI: Priyesh Bheda is a patient man. Every time his court hearing comes up, the 35-year-old physically challenged civil servant takes leave from his training in Faridabad, endures an uncomfortable train journey and travels to Mumbai, suffering loss of pay and discomfort in the process.
It has been four times in the last six months that the Bombay high court has handed him dates, the latest being on Wednesday when his case was adjourned one more time to September.
Bheda fights his own case. But, unlike the government counsel, he is not given a mike to make his arguments, nor a table to keep his files.
He stands in the witness box and tries to make himself heard above the din in the Bombay high court's large halls amid hundreds of onlookers. But the man who lost his right leg in a 1998 rail accident, remains stoic.

"Lawyers cost a lot. Since my educational background is in public administration, I decided to fight my own case," he said.
His fight is against the government, for allotting him the less prestigious Indian postal finance and accounts service (IPFAS) despite him being the topper among the four physically handicapped candidates selected, and ranking 273 out of 413 candidates in the UPSC exams.
Bheda's troubles began in 2004 when in a letter to the department of personnel and training (DoPT), he requested the government to take cognizance of the statutory requirement of 3% reservation for the handicapped and allot him the more prestigious IAS as per his preference...

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With no response forthcoming, he then filed a petition with the central administrative tribunal's Mumbai Bench the same year.
Though the bench said the appointment was improper and directed re-allocation of Bheda to the Pondicherry civil service where there was one vacancy for a person with locomotor disability, it was not followed.
In the meantime, armed with the CAT order, Bheda resigned from his job with the Reserve Bank of India to undertake training for the Pondicherry post.
After six months of waiting for the DoPT to follow the CAT order, Bheda filed a fresh petition in the high court. He was left with no option but to join the training for IPFAS.
Unlike M Satish, a physically-disabled SC candidate, for whom prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh stepped in to approve his appointment in the Indian Revenue Service, Bheda is embroiled in a long drawn out court battle.
"I wish Satish's case could be taken as a precedent so that a disabled person does not always have to fight against discrimination," said Bheda.
Originally a stockbroker from Sion, Bheda was forced to quit after his accident confined him indoors for a year. During that time he decided to realise his dream of appearing for the civil service exams.
He was fitted with an artificial leg and he joined the Reserve Bank of India as manager. He went on to appear for the civil services exams and qualified for it in 2003.
Though the UPSC relaxes the age limit for a candidate with disability, similar concessions are not made when it comes to recruitment.
As per the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People, a non-profit voluntary organisation, 21 services out of the 26 civil services are barred for orthopaedically impaired people, 23 barred for people with hearing impairment, while visually impaired people do not qualify for any of the services.
This despite the fact that the civil services makes sure they have scribes and Braille exam papers. But Bheda remains positive. "It was my dream to be in the IAS. I hope my determination will help me realise it."

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