Ensure level-playing field for the disabled in higher educational institutions: SC

Ensure level-playing field for the disabled in higher educational institutions: SC

Context

Higher educational institutions, both government ones and those who take government aid, should ensure a level-playing field for disabled persons or face action for discrimination, the  Supreme Court warned

Appropriate statute

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act provides for not less than 5% reservation in seats during admissions

Bench’s views

• A Bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan cautioned that appropriate legal action would be initiated against defaulting educational institutions
• A provision under the 2016 Act provided that persons with benchmark disabilities shall be given an upper age relaxation of five years for admission in institutions of higher education
• A requirement is to ensure that a student with disability, after proper education, would be able to lead an independent, economically self-sufficient and fully participatory life

Directions given by SC

• The apex court, in a 26-page judgment, directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to constitute a committee to consider the feasibility of having guidelines for accessibility of students with disabilities in universities and colleges
• The educational institutions concerned should submit a list of the number of disabled persons admitted in each course every year to the Chief Commissioner or State Commissioner under the Disabilities Act
• Intimation about the number of admissions given to disabled students should be sent to the Bar Council of India (BCI)

3 key issues

Delivering a judgment on an 11-year-old PIL plea filed by the Disabled Rights Group, the Bench raised three key issues –

• The non-implementation of reservation of seats in educational institutions as provided in the Disabilities Act
• The lack of proper access for orthopedically disabled persons in educational institutions
• The absence of provisions and facilities for teaching disabled persons