In the Court of State Commissioner for
Persons with Disabilities
National
Capital Territory of Delhi
25-
D, Mata Sundari Road, Near Guru Nanak Eye Centre, New Delhi
[Vested with powers of Civil Court under the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act,
2016]
Case
No. 382/1081/2018/07/903-904 Dated: 18.02.2019
In the matter of:
Dr.
Ankit Seth
E-80,
Thomson Road, MCD Flats,
Minto
Road,
New
Delhi-110002. ……………..Complainant
Versus
The Commissioner,
North Delhi Municipal
Corporation,
Dr. SPM Civic Cetre,
J.LN. Marg,
New Delhi-110002. ..…………..Respondent
Date of hearing: 28.01.2019
Present: Sh.Vijender Kumar, S.O. and Sanjeev Kumar, ASO on behalf of the
Respondent.
ORDER
The
above named complainant, a person with 75% locomotor disability vide his
complaint 29.05.2018 received from the Court of Chief Commissioner for Persons
with Disabilities on 10.07.2018 submitted that he is working as Chief Medical
Officer in North DMC and lives in MCD accommodation at Minto Road since 2007 with
his aged and ailing parents. MCD has issued a notice to him to vacate the flat
within three months on the pretext of redevelopment of the property without
allotting him any alternative accommodation.
The complainant inter-alia alleged that while his application was
pending for alternative accommodation, a ground floor flat No. D1/1 at Rajpur
Road was allotted to another officer. He
requested for allotment of another ground floor flat D1/2 which was likely to fall vacant at Rajpur Road and is suitable
for a wheel chair user. His request was not
acceded to and he was allotted a dilapidated and ruined flat in the same area
which is not habitable. As per his
information, flat No. D1/2 has been allotted to Corporation’s Engineer-in-Chief
who also lives in the same Minto Road locality where the complainant is
living. The name of the
Engineer-in-Chief does not appear in the list of residents of Minto Road who
were allotted flats at other locations and hence as per him, the Engineer-in-Chief
has been allotted the flat on preferential basis and out of turn. Complainant has
requested that allotment of ground floor flat D1/2 at Rajpur Road to
Engineer-in-Chief should be cancelled and it should be allotted to him.
2. The complaint was taken up with the respondent vide letter
dated 19.07.2018 followed by reminder dated 27.09.2018 and a hearing on
12.12.2018.
3. During the hearing on 12.12.2018, the representatives of the
respondent submitted that the
complainant is not eligible for flat No. D1/2,
as he is in the grade pay of Rs. 7600/- . To this, the complainant stated that since he
is likely to be placed in the grade pay of Rs. 8700/- with retrospective effect
and MCD has the provision to allot accommodation of higher type by paying three
times license fee, he should have been allotted the said house. As regards repairs and maintenance of the
house allotted to the complainant, the representative of the respondent stated
that the complainant should request to the Engineering Deptt. and a proposal
for repairing all the flats was also submitted to the Finance Department.
4. On the next date of hearing on 28.01.2019, as the complainant
did not appear, he was contacted on his given telephone number. He informed
that he had undergone a surgery and therefore could not attend the hearing in
person. He also stated that he visited flat
No. E-1,Type IV at 10 Rajpur Road and found that its washroom is not accessible
and a wall will have to be removed to enable him to use it with his wheel chair. Some corridor areas are also very
narrow. He reiterated that a higher
category house can be allotted to him on payment of three times the normal
license fee.
5. The representatives of the respondent informed that after
hearing on 12.12.2018, the complainant was informed about the availability of
Flat No. E-I, Type IV at 10, Rajpur Road and was requested to intimate whether
the same was as per his needs. As there
was no response from him, they have submitted the proposal for allotment of the
said flat to the complainant to the higher authorities. If approved, the said flat should be allotted
to the complainant. As regards,
modification of the washroom etc., the engineering department will be requested
to do the needful. They however, would
not be able to comment on the feasibility to make the said flat accessible for
a wheelchair user.
6. As regards allotment of type-V house, they did not know whether
any flat was vacant though the possibility was very rare as there are very
limited numbers of type-V houses. If any
house is vacant, they would check and put up the proposal for the same to the
higher authorities for decision.
7. Any Govt. accommodation allotted to the complainant, who is a wheelchair
user, should be usable by him. If flat
No. E-I, Type IV at 10, Rajpur Road is not accessible, necessary retrofitting
should be done to make it accessible before it is allotted to the complainant. If it is not feasible to make it accessible
for the complainant, then the possibility of allotting him a Type-V house on
payment of higher license fee should be explored as the complainant is ready to
do so. Paucity of funds cannot be the
ground for not being able to allot an accessible accommodation to the
complainant as it is mandatory to make existing public buildings 9accessible under
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. In order to facilitate early allotment of an
accessible Type-IV or V house to the complainant, he is advised to contact Sh.
Vijender Kumar, S.O. and Sh. Sanjeev
Kumar, ASO and intimate them his preferred locations. Sh. Vijender Kumar shall find out the availability/
likely vacation of the preferred houses and intimate the complainant. The preferred
house should be considered for allotment to him. If none of the houses is accessible for the
complainant, the concerned authority should take appropriate action to make a
house accessible for the complainant and allot him within two months and submit
an action taken report within three months from the date of receipt of this
order as required under Section 81 of the Act.
8. The case is disposed of.
9. Given under my hand and the seal of the Court this 18th
day of February, 2019.
(T.D. Dhariyal)
State
Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities
