The Supreme Court, in a landmark decision on Monday, ruled that visually impaired individuals are eligible to serve as judges, striking down a provision in the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Services Rules. The bench, comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, emphasized that no candidate should be denied the chance to apply for judicial positions due to a disability.
“Persons with disabilities should not face any discrimination in judicial services and that affirmative action must be taken by the state to ensure such participation. No candidate can be denied such opportunity on account of disability,” the bench stated.
The case stemmed from a petition challenging Rule 6A of the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Services, which barred visually impaired candidates from the selection process. The rule was contested by a woman whose son, aspiring to be a judge, was unable to apply due to his visual impairment. Her plea to former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud led to the Supreme Court taking up the issue as a public interest litigation.
While overturning the restrictive rule, the court underscored that any indirect discrimination preventing individuals with disabilities from participating—whether through eligibility cutoffs or procedural obstacles—must be prohibited to uphold fundamental equality. It further stressed that reasonable accommodations must be provided to disabled candidates in line with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
The Supreme Court had previously ruled that visually impaired individuals could serve as judges, including at the apex court level. As a result, visually impaired judges were appointed in states like Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. Notably, in 2009, T Chakkaravarthy became Tamil Nadu’s first visually impaired judicial officer.
