GUWAHATI, June 3 � The patience of Prakash Baishya, a person with visual impairment, paid off when he got an appointment after several years of legal tussle.
After a long drawn-out litigation of over six years, Prakash Baishya has finally got justice with his appointment at the Jorhat Blind School.
In 2005, the Government of Assam had identified 664 backlog vacancies in Grade III and Grade IV�posts under various departments for appointment of physically challenged persons. Though Baishya had appeared for an interview and his name appeared at Sl. No. 2 of the selected list for Kamrup district for the post of Lower Division Assistant (LDA) under the Directorate of Employment and Craftsmen Training, Assam, no appointment was made.
So a writ petition was filed in 2009 in this regard by the Disability Law Unit-North East (DLU-NE) of Shishu Sarothi, which engages in advocacy, awareness creation, legal aid and protection of the rights of persons�with disabilities with a rights-based approach in the Gauhati High Court.
While delivering the judgment on January 27 this year, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan observed that as the petitioner could not be given an appointment despite his selection in the special recruitment drive, the onus lay with the Social Welfare department, the nodal department, to ensure equal opportunity and full participation to the petitioner as envisaged in terms of the Persons with Disabilities Act. Pursuant to the directions issued to the Social Welfare department to identify a suitable post for the petitioner in any department as deemed fit, Baishya received an appointment letter on May 17, appointing him to the post of LP school matriculate teacher at the Jorhat Blind School.
Baishya, who joined his post on May 22, said that without the assistance extended by Shishu Sarothi and Rakhee Choudhury, advocate, he would never have been able to pursue the legal battle to get his rights. While sharing his hardships over the years when he helplessly waited for a positive outcome of his case, he mentioned that the job was indeed a dream come true for him today and he emphasized the need for creating awareness on the rights of the disabled.
