Rajasthan HC Disapproves State Appointing Man With Amputation In Dominant Hand Over Other Having Amputation In Non-Dominant Hand
The Rajastha High Court was considering a Writ Petition filed by an aspirant for the post of mason in Boarder Road Organization seeking direction to Authorities to consider his candidature in the OBC Category and grant him benefit of his performance.

The Rajasthan High Court while castigating the State for giving preference to a man with amputation in the dominant hand over one having the same in the non-dominant hand has stressed that equals must be treated equally.
The Court was considering a Writ Petition filed by an aspirant for the post of mason in Boarder Road Organization seeking direction to Authorities to consider his candidature in the OBC Category and grant him benefit of his performance.
The single bench of Justice Arun Monga observed, "To sum up, the petitioner was subjected to discriminatory treatment compared to another candidate, Ashish Kumar, whose dominant hand was impaired but was declared fit. Despite the petitioner’s lesser impairment on his non-dominant hand, the respondents ignored this and have failed to demonstrate how it hindered the required duties of a mason, rendering his rejection arbitrary and unjustified. The lack of transparency in the review medical board process further undermines its fairness. The petitioner, included in the merit list and qualified for the role, was rejected without valid grounds, violating principles of equality under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. Equals must be treated equally and, therefore, the non-grant of the benefit to the petitioner despite his being otherwise eligible and meritorious, does not meet the judicial approval."
The Petitioner was represented by Advocate S.P. Sharma while the Respondent was represented by Advocate Mukesh Rajpurohit.
Facts of Case
In the primary medical examination, the little finger of Petitioner's left hand was found short due to amputation and he was thus declared unfit. He was also called for a review medical examination but even there he was orally informed that since his little finger of the left hand is short, he cannot be declared fit. It was his case that the defect in the last finger of his left hand does not reduce his efficiency at work in any manner and thus he cannot be disqualified for the post of MSW (Mason).
Reasoning By Court
The Court found the approach adopted by the respondents to be lop-sided on the very basic commonsense.
".....counter-part of the petitioner (also dexterous by right hand) was having his right hand index finger amputated by few centimeters (though exact extent of amputation has not been specified). He was given the benefit of his skill by appointing him as a mason. Whereas, petitioner's case was rejected stating that even though his little finger of his left hand is amputated by few centimeters, but, despite him being right handed, same would interfere in the discharge of his duties as mason," the Court observed.
"Trite it may sound, but the prudence warrants that what is to be seen for right handed person is if he has any unfitness in the same hand, if not, then does the left hand interfere with the skill of right hand," it further observed.
The Court concluded that the Petitioner was subjected to discrimination.
The Petition was accordingly allowed.
Cause Title: Rajasthan Arvind Kumar v Union of India & Ors. (2024:RJ-JD:51923)
Petitioner- Advocate S.P. Sharma,
Respondent- Advocate Mukesh Rajpurohit, Advocate Aditi Sharma, Advocate Prakash Raika
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