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-2
[Vested with powers
of Civil Court under the
Rights of Persons
with Disabilities Act, 2016]
Case No.919/1032/2019/05/3699-3700 Dated: 23.07.2019
In the matter of:
Suo
Motu
Vs
Vice Chancellor,
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
University,
Lothian Road,
Kashmere Gate,
Delhi-110006. …………Respondent No.1
The
Secretary,
Directorate
of Higher Education,
Govt.
of NCT of Delhi,
5,
Sham Nath Marg,
Prema
Kunj, Civil Lines,
Delhi-110054. ……………Respondent
No.2
Date of hearing: 19.07.2019
Present: Sh.
Santosh Kumar Singh, Dean, Student Services, Sh. Harsh Kapoor, Asstt. Registrar
and Ms. Bindu Nair, Asstt. Registrar, on behalf of Respondent No.2.
ORDER
It was brought to the notice of this court
that the drop down box in the online application form 2019 of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
University, Delhi provides only for “PwD Hearing Handicapped”, “PwD
Orthopedically Handicapped” and “PwD Visually Handicapped”. Therefore, persons having benchmark
disability of all the category of disabilities would not be able to apply.
2. The Schedule to
the Act contains the following specified disabilities:-
Locomotor disability, leprosy cured person, cerebral
palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy, acid attach victims, blindness, low
vision, deaf and hard of hearing, speech and language disability, intellectual
disability, specified learning disability, autism spectrum disorder, mental
illness, chronic neurological conditions, multiple sclerosis, parkinson’s
disease, hemophilia, thalassemia, sickle cell disease and multiple disabilities.
3. As per Section
2(r) of the Act, “person with benchmark disability” means a person with not
less than forty per cent of a specified disability where specified disability
has not been defined in measurable terms and includes a person with disability
where specified disability has been defined in measurable terms, as certified
by the certifying authority.
4. Section 32 of
the Act provides:
“(1) All Government institutions of higher education and
other higher education institutions receiving aid from the Government shall
reserve not less than five per cent. seatsfor persons with benchmark disabilities.
(2)The persons with benchmark disabilities shall be given
an upper age relaxation of five years for admission in institutions of higher
education.”
5. The matter was
taken up with the respondent university vide Show Cause Notice dated 31.05.2019
with advice to modify the online application format by 07.06.2019 to enable
persons with all the specified disabilities mentioned in the Schedule to the
Act to apply using appropriate expressions/terms and also provide for a
mechanism for instant removal of any difficulty faced by applicants with
benchmark disability in applying for admission to various courses offered by
the University. Respondent No. 2 was
directed to issue appropriate guidelines/advisory to all the Government
Institutions of higher education and other higher education institutions
receiving aid from the Government to ensure reservation of not less than 5%
seats for persons with benchmark disabilities and upper age relaxation of 5
years.
6. Respondent No.1
vide reply dated 12.06.2019 inter alia submitted as under:-
“The
response is as under:-
1.
The reservation of 5%
seats for persons with benchmark disabilities is being followed by AUD. All the persons with benchmark disabilities
are given an upper age relaxation of five years for admission.
2.
As per chapter 4 for
Disability under clause 34 the following are the parameters of disabilities:
i.
blindness and low
vision
ii.
Deaf and hard of
hearing
iii.
Locomotor disability
including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attach victims and
muscular dystrophy;
iv.
Autism, intellectual
disability specific learning disability and mental illness
It may please be noticed that the in the online
application form the above mentioned categories have been broady categorized
as:
(i)
PwD Visually
Handicapped (VH)
(ii)
PwD Hearing
Handicapped (HH)
(iii)
PwD Orthopedically
Handicapped (OH)
(iv)
PwD Intellectual
Disabilities (ID)
It may be noted that the *University has been complying
with the PwD Act. However, keeping in
view the aforesaid notice received from the commission informing about
appropriate expression./terms, the university will modify the online
application for to the extent that full form/coverage of various PwD categories
will be visible in the form itself.
In case you need any further clarifications, please feel
free to revert.
Yours sincerely,
Dean, Student Services”
7. Upon
considering the reply of Respondent No.1 and no response from Respondent No.2,
a hearing was scheduled on 19.07.2019.
8. While none
appeared from Dte. of Higher Education, the representatives of Respondent No. 1
submitted that they have taken action as per their understanding and the
University would like to make its campus fully accessible and friendly to persons
with disabilities and follow the provisions of the Act in the letter and spirit.
9. Besides the
expression/terms used by the University, not being the appropriate ones, there
is a likelihood of the persons having benchmark disabilities not mentioned in
the drop down box, may not apply or may not be able to apply for admission
against the reserved seats.
10. The usage of the
expression “handicapped” has long been recommended to be banned and the Social
Welfare Department, GNCT of Delhi has also issued a circular in this regard.
11. It is also
pertinent to bring to the notice of the respondents that the Universities and
colleges like any other Government establishment are mandated to reserve seats
under Section 32 and vacancies for persons with benchmark disabilities under
section 34 of the Act. They need to
ensure accessibility to built environment, information technology (website)
under section 42, 44, 45 and 46, registration of Equal Opportunity Policy under
section 21 and appoint Grievance Redressal Officer under section 23 of the Act
and the Delhi Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2018. The Universities and colleges are also
specifically mandated to :-
(i) implement
provisions under section 39 for orientation and sensitization on human
condition of disability;
(ii) induct
disability as a component for all education courses for colleges and University
teachers, organize training programmes for
sports teachers and promote teaching and research in disability studies
and establish study centres for such studies under section 47 of the Act and
induct rights of persons with disabilities in curriculum in Universities and colleges.
12. In
light of the above, the following recommendations are made:-
(i) The drop
down box for online admission or any form that is used for admissions, should
either mention all the specified disabilities as these appear in the Schedule
to the Act or it should mention that reservation of seats for persons with
benchmark disability under section 32 of the Act is open to persons having
benchmark disability of all the categories mentioned in the Schedule to the Act.
(ii) The
expressions/the terms as mentioned in the Act only should be used for various
communications, advertisements, website etc. and the expression “handicapped”
should not be used.
(iii) Respondent
No. 2 should issue appropriate guidelines/ advisories to all the Government
institutions of higher education and other higher education institutions receiving
aid from the Government to ensure reservation of not less than 5% seats for
persons with benchmark disabilities and upper age relaxation of 5 years. They should also be advised to facilitate
admission of candidates with disabilities.
In addition, appropriate directions may also be issued to all
Universities/Colleges/Institutions of higher education to ensure implementation
of various provisions in the Act concerning them which are mandatory.
13. This court
be informed of the action taken on the recommendations within 3 months from the
date of receipt of this order as required under section 81 of the Act.
14. The matter is disposed of with the above
recommendations.
15. Given under
my hand and the seal of the Court this 23rd day of July, 2019.
(T.D. Dhariyal)
State Commissioner for Persons with
Disabilities
