Mysuru: Odanadi, an NGO working for the welfare of women and children, fighting against human trafficking and abuse has managed to get a High Court judgment in its favor recently. The High Court had ruled that orphans are exempted from mentioning caste and religion while applying for state government jobs.
What led HC to give a ruling favoring orphans?
In the recent circular for Panchayath development officers and secretaries in Gram Panchayaths, two orphan women graduates from Odanadi had applied. The government rejected their online application as the hapless orphans mentioned ‘Indians’ in the column for caste and religion.
The orphan women without knowing their religion and caste moved High Court seeking exemption for them to enable to apply for jobs as they had all necessary qualifications to apply for vacant posts. On humanitarian grounds and by giving prominence to human rights, the HC ruled in their favour and ruled that seeking caste and religion data from them is unconstitutional.
At the same time, it directed the applicants to resubmit their application online. In case if their application gets rejected, they were asked to submit the application in person at KEA office before the deadline expired on October 15.
Enthused by the HC ruling, ‘Odanadi’ has plans to file a public interest petition seeking exemption for all orphans from mentioning caste and religions in future according to Odanadi convener Stanley.
