News

Volume 5 Issue 2 - January 15, 2007

Madras High Court directs states to set deadline for implementing Disability Act

D.N.I.S. News Network - Madras High Court Chief Justice A. P. Shah urged State Governments to formulate plans and set deadlines to implement the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.

The major deficiency in the Act was the absence of any time limit, he told the State Conference of the Tamilnadu Association for the Welfare of the Physically Handicapped adding that the States must provide temporary relief until the final measures were taken.

Shah stressed that the Commissioners appointed under the Act were never from the disability sector. "They invariably hold ostensible posting elsewhere and pay attention to their statutory duties under the Act in a cursory fashion."

The Chief Justice said that though the Act contained powerful provisions mandating the States to provide free education, transport and books to disabled children, “in no State, the Act is fully implemented. In rural areas, the position of disabled children is absolutely pathetic.” He also urged employers in the private sector to provide jobs to the disabled.