Sunday, January 23 2005 14:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: In a move that will benefit physically challenged persons qualifying the civil services examination, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has issued orders to reserve 3 per cent of the IAS jobs in CSE 2005-06 for persons with disability.

As per the orders, 3 of the 85 posts for IAS this year will now go to persons with disabilities such as low vision or blindness, hearing impairment and cerebral palsy, an official release said today (Jan 23, 2005).

The Ministries controlling other Central services - the Indian Police Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Forest Service - have also been told to examine the applicability of the Physical Disability Act, 1995, and reservation of 3 per cent in these services.

The Ministries will submit their report to the Appointments Committee of Cabinet in three months, it said.

The orders came after Singh approved the appointment of M Satish, a physically challenged candidate who qualified the examination in 2002, to the Indian Revenue Service.

Satish, who secured rank 249 in the examination, had written to Singh after he was denied the IRS for being physically challenged (right hand polio).

After an inquiry, his name was cleared for allocation to the IRS, it said, adding Satish has been told to join the training course.

With this decision of the Government, the higher civil services, non-technical Group A and Group B services have now been opened up for the first time to physically challenged persons, the release said.