The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has recently started the process to identify 4% of posts of junior engineers (civil and electrical) to be reserved for persons with disabilities (PwD) as mandated by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
The central construction agency on May 20 wrote to its regional offices to identify 4% of the posts and places where persons with benchmark disabilities, who are those with more than 40% of a specified disability, can be posted. The CPWD asked the regional centres to also make “appropriate reasonable accommodation” for PwD, as the RPwD Act says.
The Act, which came into effect on April 19, 2017, provided for reservation in jobs and promotions as well as the setting up of an expert committee to identify the posts for PwD. Acting on that, the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry’s Department of Empowerment of PwD (DEPwD) had on January 4, 2021 notified a list of posts in government ministries and departments that are applicable for different benchmark disabilities.
According to the CPWD’s May 20 office memorandum, the expert committee held a meeting on April 29 to consider the proposal to exempt various posts in different Ministries and departments, including the CPWD, from the reservation requirement.
“After due consideration, the Committee was of the view that the PwD need to have requisite technical qualification i.e. diploma/degree in engineering or the post in the first place and subsequently he or she has to compete in the selection process for being considered for the post,” the CPWD memo stated.
The committee did not agree with the CPWD’s proposal for exemption and advised it to follow the DEPWD’s notification for recruitment to the posts of technical officer - that is JE (civil and electrical), the memo said. The regional centres – Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chandigarh - were asked to compile their lists of posts by June 15.
The work of a junior engineer (civil), according to the DEPwD’s notification, involves planning, organising and supervising construction projects. The job includes field visits and the worker should have “adequate” “mobility and bilateral hand activities”, considered along with suitable aids and appliances, the DEPwD notification said.
