Don't Discriminate Among Persons with Disabilities,
says SC
The Supreme Court Thursday ruled that there
could be no discrimination among persons with disabilities and that the government
must provide equal benefits to all such people under the law.
A Bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and A K
Sikri relied on the objective of the Disabilities (Equal Opportunities,
Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, and reminded the
government that no further classification can be made on the basis of kind of
disability a person is suffering with.
"The Disabilities Act does not create any
barrier or discrimination among persons with disabilities... When a person is
having any of the disabilities mentioned in Section 2(i) and is so certified by
the doctor, he is entitled to the benefits of all the schemes and benefits
provided by the government and there can be no further discrimination among the
persons with varied or different types of disabilities," held the court.
The court order restricts government authorities
from discriminating among different classes of disabled persons such as blind,
deaf, dumb and orthopaedically handicapped, in matter of providing job
opportunities or other benefits.
The SC noted that any comparison of disabilities
among "persons of disabilities", without any rational basis, was
violative of Articles 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution.
The court ruling came on a petition by two
associations representing the deaf and dumb persons, employed as central and
state government employees. They sought a direction to the governments for
granting transport allowance them in equal with what was given to blinds and
orthopedically handicapped employees.
While the the Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare supported their stand, Finance Ministry contended deaf and dumb were a
class different from blind and orthopedically handicapped persons and hence
their entitlement should be different.
The court
reproached the Finance Ministry's over its argument, saying "the human
dignity of a deaf and dumb person is harmed when he is being marginalized,
ignored or devalued on the ground that the disability that he suffers is less
than a visually impaired person which, in our view, clearly violates Article 21
of the Constitution of India."
The court
hence ordered the Centre and state governments to grant transport allowance to
deaf and dumb persons also on par with blinds and orthopaedically handicapped
employees.
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