Court Orders

Chandigarh: Disabled soldiers receive justice from Court

The High Court has allowed the Writ Petitions filed by disabled soldiers challenging the stoppage of the service element of disability personnel on the ground that they had not completed 10 years of service in the armed forces.

The petitioners submitted that they had been invalidated on medical grounds to the lower medical category ‘EEE’ with more than 20 percent disability, which was held to be attributable/aggravated by military service. As a result of this they were granted the disability pension consisting of:

  • Service and disability element as per their entitlement from the date of discharge on medical grounds for a period ranging from two to three years,
  • This was later extended on the basis of subsequent Medical Boards held from time to time.

Ultimately, with the passage of time when they were brought before the Medical Board the disability percentage was assessed to be less than 20 percent; on the basis of which their pension benefits were withdrawn by the Principal Controller of Defense Accounts (Pensions) in Allahabad.

The petitioners pleaded before the bench that in accordance with the Pension Regulations of the Army, the disability pension constituted two elements: disability element and service element. The disability element depends upon the service rendered by the soldier and is granted for life to an ex-serviceman. Hence, the action of the authorities stopping even the service element of disability pension was illegal and against the rules.

Justice M. M. Kumar while allowing the Writ Petition directed the Government of India to release the service element in respect of all the petitioners from the date the disability percentage of each of the petitioners fell below 20 percent, within a period of three months failing which the petitioners would be entitled to an interest of 12 percent on the arrears. The case would benefit a large number of disabled soldiers of the armed forces invalidated on medical grounds prior to January 1, 1973.

Source: Retired soldiers’ plea on disability pension admitted. Indian Express, Daily, Chandigarh, 1 November 2006.

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Chennai: Madras High Court takes Railways to task

To ensure a barrier-free environment for disabled persons traveling in trains, the Madras High Court has issued a set of guidelines for the Railways in general, and the Central and Egmore railway stations of Chennai in particular.

Passing orders on a public interest litigation petition filed by Rajeev Rajan, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice A.P Ahah and Justice K. Chandru said, “in order that persons with disabilities may move about independently, it is necessary that all built environment should be made accessible”.

They directed the Southern Railways to construct ramps on all the main entrances of the Central and Egmore stations to enable the disabled enter without difficulty. Pointing out that only 28 out of the 40 pairs of trains in the Central Station, and eight out of the 20 pairs of trains in Egmore, had coaches specially designed for the disabled, the Bench said that there was a need to prepare a scheme for providing special facilities in all the trains. The Railways has been directed to frame an appropriate scheme within three months in this regard.

Referring to the Railway’s submissions that only a negligible percentage of passengers were disabled and that there was no merit in the demand for specific reservation of berths and special compartments for them, the Judges said, “at least some seats should be reserved for the disabled and if no disabled person is traveling in the train the same compartment can be used for regular passengers”. They directed the railways to frame an appropriate scheme for reservation of berths/compartments keeping in view the number of disabled persons traveling by train.

Platform amenities

The Railways has been asked to provide drinking water for the disabled at both ends of platforms at Central and Egmore stations. The general facilities cannot be used by the disabled, the Bench said as they are located in a narrow stretch wherein wheelchairs could not reach.

Source: Railways asked to make special arrangements for the disabled. The Hindu, Daily, Chennai, 28 October 2006.

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Guwahati: Violation of Disability Act

The Guwahati High Court has directed the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) to postpone Service (ACS) examinations as both the State Government and the APSC have been continuously violating the relevant provisions of the Persons with Disabilities Act, ever since the Act came into force w.e.f. February 7, 1996.

A PIL was filed against the State Government and the APSC on account of an advertisement dated August 18, 2006 that had been issued by the APSC for recruitment to ACS and other allied posts. The High Court order, prayed for issuance of appropriate directive both for quashing and setting aside the advertisement dated August 16, 2006 and also for filling up of backlog and current vacancies that had accumulated since February 7, 1996 in favour of persons with disabilities. The PIL sought, in its entirety, enforcement of the provisions of Sections 33 and 36 of the PwD Act. Strangely, the advertisement, while mentioning the provision of reservation for SC, ST, OBC and MOBC, etc, refrained from mentioning the provision of reservation available to persons with disabilities under Section 33 of the Act mentioned above.

The petitioners, Arman Ali of Disability Law Unit-NE, Shishu Sarothi, and PK Pincha of Action Aid India, said that the backlog clearance exercise conducted by the State Government last year for ‘Persons with Disabilities’ was only in respect of C and D categories and had proved futile, as most of the selected candidates were yet to get appointment letters.

Another important aspect is that the provisions of reservation in C and D categories of jobs did exist even prior to the enactment of the Persons with Disabilities Act through an executive order. But the current Act, under Section 33, mandated reservation in all categories of jobs. In this context, the petitioners sought to draw the attention of all concerned to media reports appearing about a year back and referring to an order passed by the Prime Minister’s Office in relation to reservations even in the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) in favor of ‘Persons with Disabilities’.
 
The Guwahati High Court, vide its interim order dated September 28, 2006, directed the respondents to postpone the actual holding of the examinations until further orders from the Court. In view of the fact that even if the State Government took any decision for issuing a notification providing for appropriate reservation in favor of the physically disabled persons in respect of posts advertised by the APSC, it would be impossible for the deserving physically disabled persons to submit their applications since the last date fixed by the APSC was already over. The matter was posted for further hearing on the November 6, 2006 and further information is awaited…..

Sidhartha Sankar Dey, advocate, Guwahati High Court appeared for the petitions.

Source: Violation of Disability Act. Assam Tribune, Daily, Guwahati, 22 October 2006.

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New Delhi: High Court raps Center on employment issue

The Centre has submitted a report to the Delhi High Court that it has initiated the process of identifying suitable posts for disabled candidates, especially for the visually impaired who clear the civil service examination.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment received flak from the Court for failing to do justice to disabled even a decade after the Disability Act was passed. The bench  expressed dissatisfaction as to why such candidates were still forced to vie with the general category candidates.

Appearing for the Attorney General Milon Banerjee, Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said that the “Centre is coordinating with the concerned ministries to ensure that the mandate of the Disability Act is given full effect to”.

The division bench of Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice J.P Singh directed the Centre to identify the posts at the earliest, update it periodically and also emphasized the need for a social security policy for disabled. The Court further suggested that giving incentives for the employers, who reserve 5 percent posts for the disabled, would be another way for opening new avenues.

The Court passed the direction while dealing with an appeal filed by the UPSC challenging single bench order directing to appoint a visually impaired candidate T.D Dinakar, who had qualified in 2001 to a Group “A” post.

The UPSC informed the Court that it did not recommend his name as it failed to “meet” the standards for general category candidates, and there were no identified posts for visually impaired category. The department of personnel and training, meanwhile, took the plea that it would not be “legally correct either to identify any posts for visually impaired or to extend relaxation to this category”. Observing the central controversy around the Center’s failure to identify suitable posts for disabled, the bench said there was no justification to it even 10 years after the passage of the Disabled Act.

Source: Identification of posts for disabled has begun: Centre. Asian Age, Daily, New Delhi, 26 October 2006.

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