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The Times of India
The Times of India
National
TNN

Denying teacher job over disability regressive: Calcutta HC

KOLKATA: Calcutta High Court has ordered the governing body of a Kolkata college to reconsider its decision refusing appointment to an applicant to a professor's post on the grounds that he was an amputee. The court said the decision was "regressive" and went against principles of "empowering" persons with disabilities.

Arun Sarkar, who had previously taught at the Kandi Raj College in Murshidabad for seven years from April 2010, had lost both arms in a train accident. The Naihati resident, who is 80% disabled, had applied for the new position as he was finding it difficult to commute to the Murshidabad college, around 480km away. The College Service Commission had recommended his appointment at Acharya Girish Chandra Bose College (formerly Bangabasi College of Commerce) in central Kolkata as an assistant professor in Bengali.

The college's governing body, however, disagreed with the recommendation. Its argument against taking in Sarkar, who is 80% disabled, was that he "cannot fulfil his duties related to teaching, evaluating and university assignments."

Rethink decision in 8 weeks: Calcutta HC

The governing body of Acharya Girish Chandra Bose College felt Arun Sarkar would "seriously prejudice the department and the reputation of the college". It requested the College Service Commission to replace him "by another candidate of the same category."

Sarkar moved Calcutta High Court against this. On Monday, Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya, in her order, said the decision "is opaque, reflects an intransigent mindset and a systemic obstacle to the personal and intellectual growth of persons with disability. The decision is regressive and chains the freedoms and opportunities of the community."

The court commented that there was no evidence that Sarkar could not perform his duties - either in the school, where he was a teacher when he had met with the accident in 1997, or later in the college where he taught - "as a result of disability", adding it could not be said that "teaching, evaluating answer scripts and other university assignments are beyond the capabilities of a person with disability."

The HC dismissed the college governing body's recommendations and asked it to decide afresh on the case in eight weeks. The court also said the college decision was "a reflection of the mindset and attitudes" that legal statues now aim to "liberalise and rectify." Justice Bhattacharya said the focus had shifted from "protection of persons with disability to empowerment". "The college's decision will never pass the test of reasonability," said advocate Subir Sanyal, who argued for Sarkar. "He had been teaching in a reputable government college for seven years, only to be subject to insinuations that he can't work well. This is an offence under law."

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