JKHC for rehabilitation of physically challenged

Srinagar, Oct 19: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the state government to re-examine the norm of fixing 40 per cent disability as the eligibility criterion for rendering assistance to the physically challenged through the Social Welfare Department.

A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Bashir Ahmed Khan and Justice Bashir Ahmed Kirmani, said this might deprive a large number of deserving disabled people from the benefits.

Giving directions on a public interest litigation (PIL), the court asked the government to render assistance to the physically challenged people in proportion to the quantum of disability without fixing the 40 per cent cut off percentage.

This would ensure better assistance to the handicapped and also enable the department to identify avenues for people with different degrees of disabilities for their appropriate rehabilitation.

The bench directed the Social Welfare department to seek coordination from other departments such as health and education and act as a nodal agency for channelising avenues available from different sides into a comprehensive programme for effective assistance to the handicapped people.

The Court felt that for integrated welfare programmes, the department should concentrate on education of the disabled children along with their medical treatment, vocationalisation of young disabled people and rehabilitation of the aged.

The bench also directed the departments of Education and Health and also the Union Human Resource Development Ministry to cooperate with the Social Welfare department in this regard.

It also asked the department to identify the disabled people capable of undertaking some small scale or domestic industrial activity and arrange for soft loans to them through banking institutions to enable them to lead a dignified life.

The court directed the Social Welfare department officials to render assistance to those registered disabled people who were not receiving any help at present, and also expedite registration of those who had not been registered as yet.

The bench said the officials should undertake awareness campaigns indicating places to be approached for registration according to a calendar to be publicised in advance.

It also directed the state government to ensure grant of funds to the Social Welfare department for meeting the expenditure on account of assistance to the disabled people.

The department should identify NGOs willing to cooperate in rehabilitation of the disabled people and after verifying their credentials involve these in the process according to a well defined policy to be devised by the state government with an efficient mechanism to monitor grant and expenditure of funds, it added.

The Composite Regional Centre and other departments which claim to be providing assistance to the disabled were directed to examine the desirability for rendering help through the Social Welfare department so that the government aid flows to the deserving people without any chance for overlapping anywhere.

The court also asked the print and electronic media to render necessary cooperation to the Social Welfare department for carrying out effective campaign without charging any fee in discharge of their social and public obligations.

UNI