Court Orders

Orders on job quotas

The Guwahti High Court has directed the Assam government to provide three per cent job reservation for the disabled, which is mandatory as per the Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995.

Hearing a case filed by Arman Ali of Disabilities Law Unit – Northeast, and Prasanna Kumar Pincha of Rehabilitation Society of the Visually Impaired, Justice duo AH Saikia and HN Sarma ordered the state government to incorporate the three per cent quota for the disabled within four weeks. They also set aside an earlier interim order staying the holding of the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) examination, which was challenged for ignoring the rights of disabled persons.

On August 18 2006, the APSC came out with an advertisement for holding the Main examination for recruitment of Assam Civil service Class-1 (Junior grade) Police Service (junior grade), labour officer, assistant registrar of co-operative societies, inspectors of excise. While reservations were made for OBC, MOBC, SC, ST (plains) and ST (hills) candidates, not one post was reserved for persons with disabilities.

The Provisions

The Persons with disabilities Act specifies that for vacancies in all government establishments:

1 per cent to be reserved for persons with blindness or low vision
1 per cent to persons with hearing impairment
1 per cent for persons with locomotor disability or cerebral palsy                        

Source: Gauhati high court orders job quota for the disabled. The Hindustan Times, Daily, New Delhi, 16 March 2007.

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Airlines not to charge for Ambulift services

The Delhi High Court banned private airlines from charging physically challenged passengers for ambulift services at airport that help them board an aircraft.

All airlines that have charged such passengers in the past were directed to refund the money within a month. Flight operators change up to Rs 800 from each passenger for the facility.

A bench of Justices S Kumar and Hima Kohli gave the directions while hearing a petition filed by the Disabled Rights Group, seeking special facilities for the physically challenged in various sectors.

This order is welcome and justified. When normal passengers are not charged anything for the air-conditioned bus that takes them from the airport building to the aircraft, or for the stairs for that matter, then what would be the reason to charge a handicapped person similar transportation facilities.

What is an Ambulift

An ambulift is a special hydraulic vehicle, used between a terminal and the aircraft doors, that helps disabled passengers who have difficulty climbing aircraft steps use this vehicle that is basically a hydraulic lift mounted on the back of a van. The ambulift moves the passenger directly from the ground to the aircraft doors.

At the Indira Gandhi International Airport, most ambulifts are owned and operated by the Indian Airlines who do not charge any fee for the service. Airport authorities also own ambulifts. However, most private airlines do not have ambulifts and hire them. According to a senior Indian official, ambulifts are very costly and that is why many airlines do not want to buy them.

Source: Court asks airlines to scrap ambulift fee. The Hindustan Times, Daily. New Delhi, 17 March 2007.

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