The Supreme Court has castigated the government for its insensitivity towards physically challenged persons and expressed anguish at the way in which a paralytic woman was denied employment in the Railways for 21 years even after she was selected. A Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and Ashok Kumar Ganguly, while directing forthwith appointment of the candidate Pritilata Nanda of Orissa, asked the Centre to pay 3 lakh rupees as compensation to the woman.The Court said, the candidate, who suffers from paralysis of lower limbs, has become a victim of constitutionally flawed approach adopted by the officers of South Eastern Railway and has been deprived of her legitimate right to be appointed on a Class III post. The apex court passed the direction while dismissing theCentre's appeal challenging an Orissa High Court direction which had on August 5, 2008, asked the Railways to appoint Nanda to a Class III post with back wages. The Bench noted that though over the decades several legislations had been enacted by Parliament and state legislatures for the welfare of physically challenged persons in tune with constitutional provisions of Chapter IV, the same has not been translated into actions.