From the States

Acting on the Act

The Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, Justice A.P. Shah, called for the removal of numerous lacunae in the Persons with Disability Act (PWD), 1995.

At the valedictory function of a workshop organized by Ability Foundation to discuss the proposed amendments to the Act, "Acting on the Act," Mr. Justice Shah listed a number of lacunae in the current law and suggested several methods to remedy them. The very definition of disabilities under the Act was very narrow, he charged. It did not even conform to the norms of the World Health Organization. Also, prescribing a minimum percentage of disability for one to seek redress under the Act was not desirable.

"The disabled cannot be measured by the percentage of their disability," Justice Shah said to a gathering comprising activists and social workers among others.

The absence of timelines or deadlines to achieve targets set by the Act was a major deterrent to its implementation. He also pointed out that government agencies found it convenient to seek refuge behind the clause that says implementation can be done "within the economic capacity" of the agency, for not acting on the provisions of the law. Deadlines should be introduced and the economic criteria clause removed, Justice Shah said.

Section 42 of the Act called upon the State to provide aids and appliances to persons with disability and this should be expanded to include state-of-the-art enabling software.

While Section 43 called for preferential allotment of land to the disabled, the Chief Justice said he had not come across any such case.

Mr. Justice Shah called for planned, coordinated dissemination of information (about the PWD Act) among the public and the disabled. "By and large, in India, we need a healthy system to deal with discrimination."

Ability Foundation also brought together on the same platform three of the key persons in the implementation of policies for the disabled- Manoj Kumar, Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities; Ian Cardozo, Chairperson, Rehabilitation Council of India; and Poonam Natarajan, Chairperson, National Trust Act.

They elaborated on various provisions of the PWD Act, the Rehabilitation Council of India Act and National Trust Act, also outlining policies on the anvil and how disabled persons could access the benefits of these schemes.

Jayashre Reveendran, executive director, Ability Foundation, said the organization would be willing to co-ordinate an idea bank that could collect suggested amendments to the PWD Act.

Source: Call to remove lacunae in Disabilities Act. The Hindu, Chennai, 13 August 2006.

Top

Vacancies abound but no Jobs

While lakhs of physically challenged educated youths are running from pillar to post for a respectable job, over three thousand posts reserved for the disabled are lying vacant in various Government offices since 1981. Expressing concern in this regard, the All Assam Disabled Persons Association (AADPA) has demanded of the State Government to fill up these posts.

A memorandum is this regard was submitted to Chief Secretary S Kabilan today by the AADPA urging his immediate intervention to initiate action for filling up all the backlog posts. This was stated by the president of the disabled body, Pabitra Barma and general secretary, Rahim Badsha Ahmed, while talking with 'The Sentinel'.

"Despite several written agreements with the association the State Government has virtually done nothing till date to fill up the backlog posts lying vacant since years," they said.

The AADPA, in its memorandum, has also urged the Government to ensure 3 per cent reservation for physically challenged people in the ensuing recruitment process to be held in various Government departments.

Source: Government urged to fill up posts for disabled. The Sentinel, Guwahati, 11 August 2006.

Top