Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Hi,


First of its kind judgement from a High Court in recent times where the provisions of Section 47 of the Persons with Disabilities Act 1995 have benefited an employee acquiring a mental illness, while in service!  Congratulations to High Court of Madras (read Justice K Chandru) on this progressive judgement, Mr. Narayanan the employee, the disability sector and not to forget the advocate who presented the case!


Here are the links to the case details:


Mental illness can be included under ‘disability'
B. Kolappan



Court directs State department to pay full salary to employee who was relieved from service


Says termination of his services clearly in contravention of Section 47 of the PWD Act

CHENNAI: Mental illness or retardation can be brought within the term ‘disability' under sections of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 (PWD Act), the Madras High Court has said.
Directing a State government department to pay full salary, including annual increment and other monetary and service benefits, to an employee who was relieved from service on the ground of mental disability, Justice K. Chandru said the benefits should be given from the date of disability till the date of his retirement.
Allowing a petition filed by C. Narayanan, who worked as Assistant in the government Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Justice Chandru also said that the order of the Director of Employment and Training terminating Mr. Narayanan's services was “clearly in contravention” of Section 47 of the PWD Act. Section 47 clearly indicates “no establishment shall dispense with, or reduce in rank, an employee who acquires a disability during his service.”

“It is ironical that the respondents belonged to the Department of Employment and Training. They are expected to advise other departments about the rights of employees in such departments. If the Department of Employment itself is not aware of the provisions of the Act, that really is a sorry state of affairs,” the Judge said.

The authorities' action had betrayed their ignorance of the PWD Act, he said and directed them to pay case cost of Rs.5,000 to Mr. Narayanan for having made him run from court to court against the dismissal.

Mental illness can be included under ‘disability'  
Read more at :  








Mental disability no ground to sack employees: HC


Read more: Mental disability no ground to sack employees: HC - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mental-disability-no-ground-to-sack-employees-HC/articleshow/7175522.cms#ixzz19V1cigTe

Monday, December 27, 2010

Disabled employees suffering as employers not aware of disability provisions


"Visually impaired and disabled persons don't require your sympathy, they need a little support," observed the Bombay High Court on Thursday.

While hearing a plea filed by Nilima Surve, who is visually impaired, the high court was surprised that the commissioner of disability had upheld her termination, instead of supporting her.

In November 2006, Chetna College at Bandra had appointed Surve as a junior clerk. But she was dismissed from service four months later. The college had cited "mistakes in her typing" as the reason behind the termination.

The division bench, comprising chief justice Mohit Shah and justice SJ Kathawala, was irked to find that Surve wanted a particular software to be installed to improve her work, instead she was sacked citing "unsatisfactory work".

Surve had approached the commissioner for disability challenging her dismissal stating she had merely sought installation of the software, Jaws, but the college chose to dismiss her in March 2007.

The judges got further annoyed when Surve's counsel Chetan Agrawal pointed out that the commissioner had passed some critical remarks in the order upholding her termination.

One such remark read: "The woman should have acquired the knowledge of technology available and used in the market instead of asking for a specific software."

Additional government pleader agreed that the order was contrary to the legislative intent, after the judges expressed anguish about the observations.

"The order is clearly arbitrary and contrary to the provisions of the [Persons with Disability] Act," Nitin Deshpande said. The high court also called for a meeting of all stakeholders — government officers, NGOs, representatives of visually impaired and handicapped persons — on January 15.

Measures to resolve the problems faced by the disabled will be discussed at the meeting to be held in the conference hall of the high court building in presence of the judges.