Dear Friends, To come back to the main discussion, I do agree there are shortcomings in the working of the office of CCPD and I find precisely four reasons for it:
(a) No full time independent Commissioner (b) Lack of staff vis-a-vis number of complaints received per day (c) No power to direct, its more of advisory nature, so often respondents don't take CCPD seriously and do not reply or appear. (d) staff transferred from other ministries/departments on deputation with no knowledge of the disability, laws and its practice and how does a court work. Mr. Dhariyal is now an experience hand at the office of CCPD we have our own interest in retaining him. In fact when we had full time CCPD and two Dy Commissioners, (Ms. Sunita Singh, if you remember who looked after the court work) the work started to roll but Ms. Sunita Singh was recalled soon. Its less of his fault than of the system that he works in. I am not defending the officer, but the sheer number of staff and multiple responsibilities that have been handed over to the counted staff is mind boggling and the Ministry is least bothered about it for no one is agitating. None of us would be able to justice with that pendency number with higher expectations of the sector from them. Then gradually when they can't handle the sheer number they start prioritizing and take action on cases which are urgent in nature, or on which there is likelihood of ministry or media or court taking a note of. This further rottens the system and most cases start dragging for years with no justice seems coming. Also lot of work that the state commissioners should be doing is falling on the office of CCPD being the central office and half the time the CCPD does only post office work - forwarding representations from states to state commissioners - ofcourse with handly much action happening on them. I think the way out is to expand the CCPD office and provide trained staff to the office. At least four Dy. Commissioners and one full time CCPD with trained staff and fully computerised system of tracking matters. I would agree with the idea of having a judge or an advocate experienced in disability law & human rights holds this office instead of Babus and NGO heads. The Ministry of Social Justice has to seriously take a note of it and disability sector should lead a strong agitation. On George's point of removal of employee with disability on ground of non-performance, we have got an infamous order from none other than Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case Union of India Vs. Devendra Kumar Pant, on which I wrote my reflections on my blog: http://disabilityrightsthroughcourts.blogspot.com/2009/07/reflections-on-supreme-court-judgement.html However, before deciding the legality of removing a person with disability from job on account of non-performance, I would say, it is necessary to look at whether the employee was given reasonable accommodation, assistive aids and devices required to perform that job and sufficient training. Also whether the bad behaviour has been construed because the employee demanded such accommodation and support and was not given. Mere declaring a person useless and charge him with bad behaviour is the easiest thing to do which is often done by insensitive employers and colleagues.There is an urgent need of guidance to the employers to this effect- both in Govt. and in private and also there is an urgent need of providing support systems like technology, assistive aids, adaptation and reasonable accommodation at the cost of Government to provide equitable opportunities to those experiencing disabilities. regards Subhash Chandra Vashishth Advocate-Disability Rights 09811125521 Voice your thoughts in the blog to discuss the Rights of persons with disability bill at: http://www.accessindia.org.in/harish/blog.htm To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in 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
