BANGALORE: Karnataka High Court judge V. Gopala Gowda on Thursday said if the disabled persons did not get equal opportunities even after 10 years of the enactment of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, there must be something wrong in governance.
Speaking after inaugurating a conference on the implementation of the Act organised by the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities here, Mr. Gowda urged the State and Union governments to implement the Act in letter and spirit. Mr. Gowda said courts, including the Supreme Court, always favoured equal opportunities for disabled persons and had often come to their rescue. He urged the disabled persons to approach courts and legal services authorities to redress their grievances. In a presentation, an official of the office of the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities said though the State Commissionerate was adjudged the best by the chief commissioner, there were several grey areas where justice had to be done to disabled persons. While five per cent reservation in government jobs was yet to be provided, insufficient budgetary allocation was coming in the way of implementation of many schemes for the disabled. Twenty of the 27 offices of deputy commissioner in State were situated on the first floor denying free access for the disabled. There was no separate finance corporation on the lines of the one in other States to fund projects to be taken up by the disabled. Also, medical boards established at district headquarters to certify disability were not functioning properly. Officials of various government departments made a presentation on the plan of action for implementation of the Act. Principal Secretary (Women and Child Development) Ranjini Srikumar and Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities L. Krishnamurthy were present. KODAKKAL SHIVAPRASAD,FUWAI Award Winner & Record Holder-International Biographical Note, URL:- http://kodakkal.ning.com/ http://kodakkalshivaprasad.blogspot.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/kodakkalshivaprasad Join Access India convention: For updates on it visit: http://accessindia.org.in/harish/convention.htm Registration is now open! To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
