What is the exact number of vacancies for visually impaired persons in civil services exams since 1996, the Delhi High Court has sought to know from the Centre.

A bench of justices S Muralidhar and Talwant Singh has directed the Centre to give details regarding the backlog vacancies for persons with disabilities, particularly visually impaired, from 1996 onwards.

The bench passed the order on a batch of petitions, while examining the alleged discrepancies in the vacancies for visually challenged persons in civil services exams conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The court issued the directions noting that there were two charts regarding the number of vacancies -- one obtained through the Right to Information Act and relied on by advocate Rajanish Kumar Jha, representing a petitioner and the other filed by the Department of Personnel and Training.
 

In its September 11 order, the bench directed advocate Jha to place on record a note explaining the accurate number of vacancies that have been available for persons with disabilities. The court will hear the matter on November 5. Jha said the petitions were filed by the candidates who would have been appointed had the Centre implemented reservation for visually impaired persons as per the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.

The Centre denied the allegations and filed a separate list of vacancies.
Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/delhi-high-court-seeks-list-of-upsc-vacancies-for-visually-impaired/story-1gsdNTYmMOmKmR5yt5dUbI.html