The petitioner, a non-profit called National Platform for Rights of the Disabled, told the court that the option to exercise the choice of joining the IPS and other central police services for this selection cycle expired on Thursday.
The Supreme Court on Friday allowed physically challenged candidates who have cleared the civil services exam to provisionally opt for the Indian Police Service, the Railway Protection Force, and the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service (Danips), after a petition filed by a disabled rights organisation challenged a rule that denied them entry into the country’s elite police forces.
“We direct the secretary general of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to accept hard copies of applications from the concerned candidates, such as the petitioner and similarly placed persons, if submitted physically or through courier on or before April 1 in the office of the secretary general, Union Public Service Commission before 4pm,” a bench of justices AM Khanwilkar and AS Oka said in their interim order.
The petitioner, a non-profit called National Platform for Rights of the Disabled, told the court that the option to exercise the choice of joining the IPS and other central police services for this selection cycle expired on Thursday. Its counsel, senior advocate Arvind Datar, therefore, proposed that the disabled candidates be allowed to apply for the time being, and these applications could be taken up for consideration subject to a final decision taken by the court.