New Delhi, July 15 -- The Supreme Court has awarded Rs.1.25 crore in compensation to a former Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) constable, holding that the force illegally removed him from service in violation of Section 47 of the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Act. In an order passed on July 13, a bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih held that the protection under Section 47-which bars termination of government employees who acquire a disability during service and requires employers to accommodate them in a suitable alternative post-is mandatory. The protection, the court said, does not depend on the employer first creating an administrative mechanism or on the employee seeking accommodation. If an employee acquires a disability during service and cannot continue in the same post, the employer must shift the employee to another post carrying the same pay and service benefits or retain the employee on a supernumerary post until retirement or until a suitable vacancy arises. "The statutory mandate of Section 47, PwD Act is too peremptory to be ignored. The title of the PwD Act says it all. It is an enactment for persons with disabilities intended to guarantee them equal opportunities and full participation apart from protection of rights... It is a legislative device to make a statute imperative," the court said. The observations came while dismissing a Union government appeal against concurrent decisions of the Himachal Pradesh high court granting relief to former constable Bali Ram. Bali Ram joined the CRPF as a constable (driver) in 1985 after being declared medically fit. In 1996, he developed a condition that left him completely blind in one eye and partially impaired in the other. The CRPF medically invalidated him from service on March 11, 1998....