State government rapped for inaction over disability issue

The state government faced the Bombay High Court's ire for not complying with its August 9, order for filling up vacancies reserved for the disabled by July 31.

Stating that "inaction was writ large on the government's face," a division bench of Justices R M Lodha and S A Bobde extended the deadline by three more months.

The Court said that unless the backlog - as on June 30 - is filled, the government and its 27 departments would be restrained from any recruitment for any post on which a handicapped person could be appointed.

While hearing the two public interest litigations filed by the National Federation of Blind (NFB) and ILS Legal Aid, the Court expressed unhappiness over the affidavit filed by the Chief Secretary D K Sankaran and said that it was "clearly an eyewash and the claim was hollow."

The Court also came down heavily on Associate Advocate-General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni when he said that 22.81 per cent of the total vacancies for the disabled were to be filled.

"If the government does not know what it's doing, then it should stop functioning," Justice Lodha said, adding that the government has put the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995, in cold storage with no effort to implement it.

On August 9, the High Court issued a show-cause notice to Sankaran asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for not complying with the February 14 order to fill up vacancies.

Deputy Secretary (Social Justice) Special Assistance Department Jagdeo Rathod, in his affidavit, stated that of the 19,202 vacancies reserved for handicapped - blind or low vision, hearing-impaired, locomotive disability or cerebral palsy, 10,082 had been filled.

However, the affidavit filed by Sankaran a month later, said only around 2,700 vacancies were to be filled. This claim was disputed by Advocate Uday Warunjikar, appearing for the NFB.

Justice Lodha, then directed Kumbhakoni to ensure that the petitioners' advocates be given registers of all 27 government departments on September 14, to inspect the total recruitment and vacancies in each department till June 30.

The Court directed Disability Commissioner R K Gaikwad to remain present for the next hearing on October 5 and file an affidavit in three week indicating the exact number of vacancies and fill up the backlogs within three months.

URL : http://www.disabilityindia.org/djartsep06C.cfm