14 disabled examinees clear Odisha Civil Services Examination exam

BHUBANESWAR: Fourteen persons with disabilities have cracked the Odisha Civil Services Examination (OCSE) 2020. The examinees include five visually-impaired, three orthopaedic handicapped, four hearing impaired and two with mental illness.
Tapati Raj, who stood 10th in the exam and is 40% visually impaired, was selected the under unreserved category. Two among the five visually-impaired candidates, Prachurya Kumar Pradhan and Prasanna Kumar Panda, are 100% blind.
Panda, a native of Khurda district’s Balugaon, has secured the 266 rank in the exam in his second attempt. The college teacher and PhD scholar of European Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University has also appeared for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam.
“I will join the Odisha Civil Services and work for the people of the state. The success of disabled candidates will inspire others,” he added.
The state government is offering 4% reservation in OCSE to persons with disabilities. A few years ago, visually-impaired candidates were not allowed to seat in the OCSE as per Clause 8 of the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) Rule, 1991. Sannyas Kumar Behera, president of the Odisha Association for Blind, had challenged the rule in the State Administrative Tribunal in 2006, but it couldn’t be listed for hearing. Later, he filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Orissa high court on December 22, 2011. The court in 2014 passed the judgment in favour of the disabled.