Batch disposal of seventeen writ petitions (lead: W.P. No. 106564 of 2014 (S-KSRTC), c/w W.P. Nos. 105323/2015, 105326/2017 and fourteen others) by conductors, drivers, driver-cum-conductors, helpers and clerks of NWKRTC/KKRTC who, on medical disability certified by the Medical Board, were shifted to 'lighter job/lighter duty' postings, and who challenged office orders/endorsements limiting such lighter duty to fixed tenures (two months to one year) or requiring fresh medical certificates periodically. Filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution, the petitions sought certiorari against the restrictive orders and mandamus for permanent lighter duty under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (including Section 20), the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 and Circular No. 1515 dated 26.03.2014. Learned counsel for the parties jointly submitted that the issue stands answered by the Coordinate Bench in W.P. No. 102082/2024 (disposed of 12.06.2024); that Court's order, reproduced in the present order, had found the disability certificate furnished by the Medical Board defective, referred to the Health and Family Welfare Department Circular No. MEB(3) 82/2023-24 dated 28.11.2023 (issued pursuant to the order in W.P. No. 5622/2022 dated 29.09.2022, setting out ten mandatory contents of such certificates, including reference to Schedule 1 of the Workmen's Compensation Act 1923), extracted Sections 57, 58 and 59 of the 2016 Act and Rules 17 and 18 of the 2017 Rules, held that certificates must conform to those provisions, allowed that petition with directions that the petitioner be given lighter job with attendance and benefits without impediment, observed that aggrieved employers may appeal under Section 59, and directed circulation of the order to all State medical boards. Holding the issue covered 'on all its fours and on the same reasons', Justice M. Nagaprasanna disposed of the subject petitions, further observing that the Medical Board now constituted before whom all these petitioners are directed to appear shall issue certificates in printed form and make them known in an understandable language. High Court of Karnataka, Dharwad Bench; order dated 24.02.2025.
