Scrutiny of disability for govt staff should be based on 'specific suspicion': NHRC chief

New Delhi: Following deliberations on human rights violations arising out of re-verification and re-assessment of certificates of govt employees with disabilities, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson Justice V Ramasubramanian has suggested that such scrutiny be carried out only in cases where there is specific suspicion, instead of mass re-verification of all employees with disability.

The concern emerged at a meeting of NHRC’s core group on disabilities that was chaired by Justice Ramasubramanian. The chairperson noted that, understandably, Centre’s revised advisory and SOP dated Oct 15, 2025, for handling disability verification in govt jobs and education is meant to be applied prospectively only for new applicants and not retrospectively to reassess all existing beneficiaries.

He observed that applying the SOP retrospectively for all of them may have legal implications. Thus, instead of mass verification, the scrutiny should be limited to cases where there is specific suspicion.

“The Commission will further deliberate upon the suggestions and inputs from different stakeholders to finalise its recommendations to the government for ensuring the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities,” an NHRC statement said.

The meeting saw the suggestion being made that blanket or mass medical reassessment of all govt employees with disabilities should be prohibited. Other suggestions included adoption of UDID-based digital verification as the default mechanism, with medical reassessment only being an exception, based on clearly defined and evidence-based suspicion, and elimination of the need to re-issue certificates to employees living with irreversible disabilities.

On the issue of reassessment, Rajeev Sharma, joint secretary, department of empowerment of persons with disabilities, ministry of social justice and empowerment, clarified that the primary intent of the department was to ensure due diligence at the stage of admission to higher educational institutions and recruitment for govt jobs.

Dr S Govindaraj, commissioner of persons with disabilities, said that verification mechanisms must remain targeted and proportional to ensure that persons with genuine disabilities are not unnecessarily inconvenienced. He said that existing guidelines emphasise validation rather than mass reassessment.

Meanwhile, secretary general, NHRC, Bharat Lal said that persons with disabilities (PwD) must be treated with respect and dignity, while ensuring safeguards are in place against misuse of legal provisions. He highlighted that re-assessment of disability can be intrusive and make people feel a loss of dignity. Although the 2016 Act increased reservation for PwD from 3% to 4%, misuse and weak social values result in persons with genuine disabilities facing hardships, he added.


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