Non Implementation of RPwD Act : Education dept officials in dock

Commissioner for the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act B Shailaja has sent a communication to the officials of the School and Higher Education Department, besides Universities, to send status report on implementation of the Act by the end of this month

Hyderabad: Senior officials in the School and Higher Education Departments and State Universities are in a dock for n non-implementation of various provisions under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016.

According to sources, the officials in the Education Department expressed disappointment over the non-implementation of the Act.

Commissioner for the RPwD, B Shailaja, in a communiqué to all the departments and universities, asked the officials to send status report by September 30 on the implementation of various provisions of the Act up to the end of March 31, 2018.

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official from the School Education Department (SDE) said, the communiqué pointed out that the court of the State Commissioner has been receiving a number of complaints, representations, petitions etc., on non-implementation of the relevant provisions of the Act, particularly, Duty of educational institutions on inclusive education and specific measures to promote and facilitate inclusive education under Section 16 and 17 of the Act."

It has also highlighted that under the said Act it is assigned the status of being a Civil Court to conduct judicial process on the violations of the Act and said that “I impress upon the Government (State) to initiate urgent steps for implementation of the above provisions of the Act, keeping in view of the instructions from the Central government and the directives of the Hon'ble Supreme Court which is monitoring the implementation of the Act," which had been reiterated by the national-level Chief Commissioner, RPwD Act," in May this year.

Besides, it pointed out that the State Commission will have to prepare an annual report on the implementation of the Act, to be laid before the State Legislature.

Listing out the violations under various sections, the Commission said that they include, Adult Education (Sn.18), Free Education for children with benchmark disability (Sn.31), five per cent reservation in admissions in Higher Education (Sn.32),4 per cent reservation policy in public employment (Sn.34).

That apart, it has also highlighted an other issues like maintenance of records(Sn.22), Insurance Scheme(Sn.26), Identification of posts for reservation(Sn.33), Furnishing of information to special employment exchanges (Sn.36), awareness campaigns (Sn,39), action by appropriate authorities on the recommendations made by the State Commissioner (Sn.81), punishment for fraudulently availing any benefit meant for persons with benchmark disabilities (Sn.91), punishment for failure to furnish information (Sn.93), prohibition of discrimination on grounds of disability Rule 3 of Central Rules, Computation of vacancies (Rule.11), Interchange of vacancies (Rule.12), submission of returns on vacancies (Rule.13) and rules for barrier-free accessibility (Rule.15) as specified in the Act are among the issues on which the Commissioner has sought status reports on implementation of the Act.

It has asked all the HODs, including, the C&DSE, Secretary, Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) need to furnish report on the implementation of various provisions of the Act and Rules by their District level officers and the Registers of all the Universities in the State and the progress achieved up to end of March 31.