Orissa High Court: Low Vision Candidates Ineligible for Assistant Agriculture Engineer Post

The Orissa High Court holds that low vision candidates cannot be considered for the post of Assistant Agriculture Engineer unless the disability is specifically identified under the PwD notification.

A Division Bench of Justices Manash Ranjan Pathak and Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo referred to a 2013 notification, which includes OL, OA, HI, and BL-MNR categories but excludes blindness and low vision.

The case arises from a petition by a candidate with 40% visual impairment who challenged the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) recruitment process.

The court also said that reserved posts may remain vacant if suitable candidates are unavailable.

[Odisha Public Service Commission v Biswajit Panda]