Visually impaired persons need to be treated with sympathy and compassion, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday as it reserved verdict on a batch of petitions, including a suo motu one, over non-reservation of judicial services for visually impaired persons in some states.

Decision reserved on six petitions

The bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan said that the decision on the six petitions was reserved on the important day when the world was celebrating International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It said that sympathy and compassion are required to enable visually impaired persons to perform their duties. There should not be a hostile attitude towards them.

Senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal, assisting the bench as amicus curiae, submitted that persons with visual disabilities like blindness and low vision cannot be excluded from the purview of quota fixed for persons with disabilities.

Four percent of the posts will be filled by persons with benchmark disabilities

Citing Section 34 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, Agarwal said that every appropriate Government shall fill at least four per cent of the total vacancies of the cadre strength in each group of posts in every establishment with persons with benchmark disabilities, of which one per cent each shall be reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities under clauses (a), (b) and (c) and one per cent for persons with benchmark disabilities under clauses (d) and (e).

Kerala's Jacobite faction ordered to hand over the administration of six churches to Orthodox group

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Jacobite Syrian Church to hand over the administration of six churches in Kerala to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church faction.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said the Jacobite Syrian Church members were accused of "wilful disobedience" of a 2017 verdict. The verdict came on a dispute between the two factions in which the apex court had said that 1,100 areas and their churches under the Malankara Church should be controlled by the Orthodox faction as per the 1934 Malankara Church Guidelines.

The apex court directed to file an affidavit

The followers of the Jacobite Church have been accused of blocking the access of the Orthodox faction despite orders of both the Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court. The apex court directed the Jacobite faction to hand over the administration of three churches each in Ernakulam and Palakkad districts to the Malankara faction and file an affidavit in this regard. The bench warned, "Failing to do so, contempt proceedings will be initiated."