A crippled applicant is prevented from sitting the civil test by RPSC and fined Rs 5 lakh

In a landmark decision, the Rajasthan High Court fined the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) Rs 5 lakh for turning away a candidate with vision impairment from the RAS Pre-2021 test. Justice Sameer Jain delivered the ruling after accepting the plea that the petitioner, Kuldeep Jaiman, had submitted. The RPSC was then instructed by the court to make sure that the victim receives the Rs 5 lakh fine within four weeks.

In its ruling, the High Court chastised RPSC for erecting needless obstacles in the way of visually challenged applicants’ ability to sit for the test. It considered the RPSC’s decision to prevent the candidate from taking the test to be arbitrary and unjustified.

The dispute started when petitioner Kuldeep Jaiman, who is completely blind, applied for and was not allowed to take the RAS Recruitment Examination-2021. Attorney Shovit Jhajharia representing Jaiman emphasized that when Jaiman showed up to the Alwar district test facility on October 27, 2021, accompanied by a writer (worker), he was told he was supposed to notify the RPSC two days in advance—a requirement he was not aware of. He was also requested to provide a medical certificate attesting to his blindness, which he did not have at the time and which prevented him from taking the exam.

In its decision, the High Court made it clear that the RPSC’s need for prior notification only applies to applicants who need a writer supplied by the RPSC—not to those who bring their own writer, as the petitioner had said when completing the online form. Hence, it was decided that RPSC’s emphasis on prior warning was superfluous.

In addition, the court criticized RPSC for rejecting the applicant due to a lack of a medical certificate, citing the fact that RPSC had given the candidate’s admission card for the blind category. The court highlighted that the admission card, PAN, and passport-sized picture were the only items that may be brought to the test center in accordance with RPSC’s own rules.

The court highlighted the petitioner’s mental distress and harassment even though it acknowledged that the RAS Recruitment test-2021 selection procedure had ended and the petitioner’s desire to be included in the test was no longer relevant. As a result, RPSC was told to pay the fee in four weeks.