Reservation on single post would amount to 100% Reservation

Dear Friends,

Many of us in the Disability sector believe that 3% reservation for the PWD can be claimed on all posts including single posts. However, the courts have several times clarified that reservation on the single posts would be discriminatory to others and is against the provisions of Constitution of India as it will tantamount to 100% reservation.
regards

SC Vashishth
To read from source, click here

Delhi HC dismisses plea for reservation to single post of VC
9/16/2009

The Delhi High Court dismissed the petition of a person who sought the court’s intervention to grant disability reservation to him in the appointment of Vice-Chancellor (VC) in newly-formed 15 universities.

A bench, comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice Manmohan, dismissed the petition as withdrawn as there was only one post for the VC which could not be covered under any reservation clause.

Petitioner P R Ramanujam, who is suffering from locomotive disability and working as a professor of distance education and director of staff training and research institute in IGNOU, applied for the post of first VC in the newly formed 15 universities established under the Central University Act, 2009.

Mr Ramanujam contended that there was a statutory mechanism providing three per cent reservation to persons with disabilities, therefore, his name should be considered under the reserved category. Additional Solicitor General A S Chandhioke and Government Standing Counsel Ravinder Agarwal told the court that in this case reservation of any type could not be granted because there was only one seat for the post of VC and if reservation was granted, it would mean 100 per cent reservation. On this, the petitioner withdrew his petition.
UNI

Delhi High Court directs Union of India to amend Insurance Rules for the Disabled Employees

Dear Friends,

Many govt. employees were voicing their concerns on the in equal treatment meted out to them by the Govt's Postal Life Insurance Scheme where with a normal premium, the non-disabled employees were given a cover up to Rs. 5 lac while the disabled employees were given merely a cover of just Rs. 1 lac, that too with an increased premium and lot of hiccups.

Citing UNCRPD and equality principles that Constitution of India guarantees to all its citizens - including those experiencing disabilities, the matter was filed before Delhi High Court by Advocate Pankaj Sinha (an emerging lawyer with blindness who currently work with Human Rights Law Network, Delhi).

The Court not only admitted the petition on the first date itself, but also directed the Solicitor General to appear in person and respond to the discrimination. I am so happy to share this news with you today - not only because this is a welcoming move by the Delhi High Court where a case is being fought citing UNCRPD but also because Mr. Pankaj Sinha has been my associate in the past and I am proud to have groomed him in the human rights and especially disability rights discourse - to which he was initially never inclined as he always wanted to be a criminal lawyer.

Cheers to Pankaj and Cheers to the Human Rights Law Network (read Mr. Collin Gonsalves)! and also to Mr. Rajiv Raturi, Director- Disability Rights Initiative, HRLN. Would post the detailed judgement once the final verdict is delivered by the Court.


Here is the detailed article by an enthusiast reporter Ms. Sangeeta Sharma from United News Of India(UNI). She supplements that the centre had sought 6 weeks time to ammend the concerned rules on the 07 October 09 (the date of hearing). Ms. Sangeeta can reached at snguni@gmail.com.

regards

S.C. Vashishth, Advocate

Delhi HC directs Centre to amend its insurance rules for disabled

8/31/2009

The Delhi High Court directed the Central government to reconsider its postal insurance rules and to treat the persons with disability at par with other people. Appearing on behalf of the government, Solicitor General (SG) Gopal Subramanium assured the court that the government will take broad base consultation with experts and also take advice from the insurance regulator and draft a fresh policy which will have no disparity for the disabled.A bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice Manmohan directed the government to file their reply to the court within four weeks as to what will be their stand in this regard.

Fixing the matter for October 7, the court told the SG to revisit the Postal Insurance Policy as they have taken all disabled under one category. "When fixation of the policy is to be done, then you must consider the distinction between various types of disability as well as mortality factor caused by it. Moreover, life expectancy and other factors should also be taken into account," Justice Shah said.

A petition in this connection was filed by one Vikas Gupta, an Assistant Professor in Department of History, Delhi University, who is visually impaired. In his petition he said,"Rules of the postal insurance for government employees is discriminatory as it gives a cover of Rs 5 lakh to a normal person, but a handicap has to pay much more premium and gets an insurance cover of Rs one lakh only."

The Lawyer for the petitioner Mr Pankaj Sinha, also a visually impaired, and lawyer Ms Roma Bhagat told the court that Article 25 E of United Nations Convention On Rights for Personal Disability (UNCRPD) prohibit discrimination in the insurance policy. Ms Bhagat told the court that their research has shown that those who are hearing impaired, visually impaired or orthopedically impaired are less prone to accidents as they have less mobility and are more cautious.

She told the court that there is no data available in India to show the cause of death as the death certificate does not mention it. Also, there is no data to suggest that disabled are more prone to accidents so why they have to pay more to get a less insurance cover, Ms Bhagat said.

No Teachers for Disabled Students in MCD Schools!

Dear Friends,

For me, this report means, all the efforts of RCI (Rehabilitation Council of India) are taking overseas flights for jobs and this brain drain is surely going to cost us dearly. The manpower trained at the cost of ex-chequer is not being used in India except in a handful NGOs, grassroot organisations and Govt. schools etc. Isn't it an irony that even today we don't have any facility of educating a child with disability in a mainstream school in a city like Delhi, forget about a rural school in Jalpaiguri District of West Bengal!?

If I correctly remember, in my earlier posts of 02 January 2009 and 22 December 2008, there was a proposal from Delhi Government that they would open a Model school in each district both for MCD schools and Delhi Govt. Schools so that the needs of students with various disabilities could be met. However, there seem to be no update publicized by the department nor there is any recruitment of special educators by the Education Department of Delhi Govt. This is no excuse and the Court is rightly shocked over such lapses.

Not only there is an urgent need to sensitize & train mainstream teachers about needs and abilities of children with disabilities but also the Principals, vice principals, Headmistress/ headmasters, Education Officers and supporting staff who often are found unaware about such issues. Ignorance can not be allowed to be a blessing in disguise for them. I have personally received messages from teachers whom I sensitized & trained at DIETs (SCERT) on Inclusive education and accessible school infrastructure, that their Principals / Viceprincipals /Headmistresses were not willing to take in disabled students and sending their parents to find admissions in special schools nearby. There is an urgent need to tackle such a trend among the senior staff at schools.

Appointment of Special Educators in all MCD Schools/ Delhi Cantonment Schools & Delhi Administration Schools will boost the confidence of the School Managers and staff to readily take in more students rather than discouraging them to go away.

Also the process of extending support to such students need to be made more smoother. Currently, as per my information, the concerned class teacher has to line up in the office of the District Education Officer to get the concessions and other facilities for the child with disability in his class while leaving the class of 50-60 unattended students. This is surely discouraging from all angles. May be the Secretary-Education, Govt. of Delhi needs to look at this seriously.

regards

Subhash Chandra Vashishth

Advocate-Disability Rights

09811125521

Here is the shock that nerved the High Court of Delhi :

MCD schools must have teachers for disabled students: HC

HT Correspondent, Hindustan TimesEmail AuthorNew Delhi, May 28, 2009

For 12-year-old Avinash, a visually impaired student of an MCD school in Jahangirpuri, it was smooth sailing from classes I to IV. But since two years, he has been stuck in Class V, as his promotion now is based on performance.

“What could he do? All four years he just came to school and went back and could do nothing,” says lawyer Ashok Aggarwal.

He is pleading in the High Court for a direction to government and MCD schools to appoint special teachers for differently-abled students. “There was no teacher in the school who knew the Braille technique,” Aggarwal says.

As per the MCD’s own admission there are 10,600 such students in schools across Delhi.

A shocked Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered the MCD and Delhi Government to take immediate steps to appoint adequate number of such teachers.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Social Jurist, an NGO that had contended that 1,000 schools run by the Delhi government and 1,800 MCD schools do not have trained teachers for disabled students.

Click Here to read from source

Delhi HC: Directs appropriate Govts to take adequte steps within the limits of their economic capacity and development to implement section 46 of PWD Act 1995 to ensure Accessibility & Barrier Free Environment

Court: Delhi High Court

Bench: Hon'ble Mr. Justice T.S. Thakur, Hon'ble Ms. Justice Aruna Suresh

Case No: WP (C) 812 of 2001

Case Title: Javed Abidi Vs. Union of India & Others

Date of Judgement: 21 January 2008

Act: The Persons with Disabilities Act 1995

Subjecct : Accesssibility; Barrier Free Environment for persons with disabilities; Implementation of Section 46 of The Persons with Disabilities Act 1995

Brief: 

Mr. Javed Abidi filed this writ petition before the High Court of Delhi. He was aggrieved on the removal of temporary wooden ramps from the Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Humayan’s Tomb, Jantar Mantar and other similar monuments of historic importance. These ramps were fabricated and fixed by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Archaeological Survey of India during the visit of Mr. Stephen Hawkins, the renowned physicist (Wheelchair User), who wanted to see these monuments.

After his visit the Archaeological Survey of India decided to remove these ramps. Abidi filed the case seeking justice in accordance with Section 46 of the Disabilities Act, 1995, which mandates ramps in public places for wheelchair access. The petitioner urged the Court for directing the respondent not to remove the wooden ramps and instead to erect permanent ramps ensuring barrier-free access to persons with disabilities. 

Read the Judgement: