Kartik Kansal, who has been in a wheelchair due to muscular dystrophy since he was 14, has cleared the UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) not once, not twice, but four times.

An IIT Roorkee graduate in mechanical engineering, Kartik currently serves as a scientist at ISRO. He ranked 813 in 2019, 271 in 2021, 784 in 2022, and 829 in 2023. And yet, he never got a service.

Amid the controversy surrounding trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar and others allegedly misusing the disability quota, this is a starkly contrasting case.

As per the UPSC Civil Services Exam 2021 notification, 22 out of 712 total vacancies had been designated for PwBD candidates. These included six positions for locomotor disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack survivors, and muscular dystrophy.

That year, despite securing a rank of 271 and being first in the locomotor disability category, Kartik was not allocated a service, even though candidates ranked 272 and 273 were allotted IAS that year.

This was because muscular dystrophy was not included in the list of conditions eligible for IAS. Instead, he was eligible for Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) Group A and Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Excise), his second and third choices.

Even in 2019, when Kartik bagged the 813th rank, he could have been allotted a service, since out of 15 vacancies for locomotor disability, only 14 posts were filled. Yet, he wasn't.

Despite the PwBD reservation in the CSE, additional requirements, including writing and visual capabilities certified by a medical board, are also considered when assigning a service.