Bombay High Court Pulls Up Maharashtra Govt Over Advisory Board On Persons With Disabilities Remaining Defunct Since 2020

A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar noted that the Advisory Board, which has to take up the cause of people with disabilities, has been lying defunct since 2020 as the State did not fill up the vacancies in the said board.

The bench said the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 mandated the setting up of an Advisory Board.

"We are not asking you to follow our orders as this 2016 Act has been introduced in the Parliament. So, will you not follow the mandate of the Parliament?" a visibly irked Chief Justice questioned the State.

The bench then passed an order and recorded, "We notice with grave concern that till date the vacancies in the said board have not been filled up. The board in terms of the mandate of the Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2016, discharges certain vital functions not only in the realm of policy making but also in coordinating the activities of various departments in the State dealing with matters related to persons with disability. It is also cast with a duty to take up the causes of disabilities with authorities and also to recommend facilities like accessibility for such persons."

The judges further said that the role of the Advisory Board assumes significance, in view of its functions and duties.

"However the apathy shown by the State in filling up the vacancies in the board cannot be appreciated," the bench said while noting that the affidavit filed by the State was silent on steps taken to fill up the vacancies.

The judges considered the contention and added, that the board is expected to perform certain important functions and thus there cannot be any justification whatsoever of the matter being pending even though a period of about one year has elapsed since the Commissioner (for Persons with Disabilities) has made a proposal to appoint people on July 27, 2023.

"The 2016 Act came into force on April 19, 2017 and accordingly State ought to had taken steps to make the board functional to achieve the purpose for which the Act was passed by the Parliament. We have already noticed that the board was constituted by a notification on February 27, 2018. However, non official members were withdrawn from the board as a result the constitution of the board is not complete and hence board is defunct since 2020 i.e. from last four years," the bench said.

The bench, therefore, ordered the State government to clarify its stand on the issue by Thursday.

The bench was hearing a suo motu PIL related to the difficulties faced by physically disabled persons, particularly wheelchair-bound ones, who are unable to move smoothly due to the installation of bollards on footpaths across the city. The suo motu PIL stems out of an email received by advocate Jamshed Mistry.

The email sender - Karan Sunil Shah, a 25-year-old resident of Shivaji Park and a wheelchair user since birth, raised concerns about the installation of bollards at footpath entrances across Mumbai. The court took suo moto cognizance noting photos accompanying Shah's email which illustrated the impediments posed by closely spaced bollards at the entrance of the footpaths.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Anil Singh appearing for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) informed the bench that the civic body has removed all the bollards in its jurisdiction. Similar submission was made by advocate Akshay Shinde, who represented the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA).

The bench, however, asked the BMC and MMRDA to file an affidavit detailing the number of bollards they have removed and other work undertaken to facilitate the smooth movement of the physically disabled persons.

A further directive has been issued to the State government to file its affidavit clarifying its stand on the constitution of the Advisory Board.