Sanyas Behera’s legal battle helps him, seven other visually impaired to crack OAS exam

Bhubaneswar: He fought with the Odisha government and own after a prolonged legal battle. And now, he will be a part of the state government.

Sanyas Kumar Behera, who fought to create a window for physically challenged persons to get into the state civil services, has topped among eight visually impaired candidates, who have cracked the prestigious Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) examination 2015.

Among the 670 selected candidates for the top state-level jobs, eight visually impaired and five hearing impaired candidates have been shortlisted.

Sanyas was placed at 220 rank in the list.

He started his fight against prohibition of physically challenged candidates from appearing in OPSC examination in 2006.

Sanyas filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Orissa High Court in 2011 seeking candidature of physically challenged OPSC examination aspirants.

Accepting the PIL, the High Court ordered the OPSC in 2014 to include visually impaired candidates.

However, there was no provision made for visually impaired candidates in the notification issued by OPSC for Odisha Administrative Service examination in 2015.

He appealed before the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities in July in the same year following which OPSC changed his notification in August allowing the visually impaired candidates to appear the examination.

Born with 100% blindness in Kishoreprasad village under Gania block in Nayagarh district, Sanyas is blessed with two daughters and one son.

He passed his matriculation from Bhima Bhoi School for the Blind in Bhubaneswar and graduation from Alagappa University in Public Administration, also have a special degree on office management.