Calcutta High Court Issues Notice On Plea Challenging Exclusion Of Disability Related Questions From NFHS-6

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, issued notice to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Union of India, the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Govt of WB, and other authorities, in a plea challenging the exclusion of disability related questions from the 6th instalment of the National Family Health Survey (“NFHS”).

In acknowledging the cause raised by the petitioners and directing the respondents to file affidavits stating why the prayers sought for in the writ petition could not be granted, a Bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya orally remarked:

“Another PIL is pending in this matter…and there is a lot of difficulty in getting this identification certificate… [the petitioners] have mentioned that and we have directed the Advocate General to file a reply in the matter. It is not as easy as [the State] has said in the Memorandum…The respondents shall file an affidavit, clearly setting out why, the prayer sought for in the petition cannot be granted, and why the issues which have been flagged by the petitioner organisation in their representations cannot be treated as a basis for issuing appropriate directions to the appropriate respondents.”

It was argued by the petitioner that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (“MoH & FW”) had illegally & arbitrarily removed ‘disaggregated data’ on disability in the 6th NFHS.

The petitioners argued that the objective of the NFHS was to provide essential data pertaining to family welfare, which would be utilised by the MoH & FW and other agencies for introducing disability-friendly policy and programme purposes, and to provide information on important emerging health and family welfare issues.

It was highlighted by the petitioners that the exclusion of disabled people from the purview of data collection would have a detrimental impact on their quality of life and that such an exclusion would be squarely against the letter and spirit of not only the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities but also the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

The respondents’ counsels argued on technical grounds, and submitted that the exclusion of the people with disabilities from the NFHS was due to the fact that the Surveyor who was assigned to collect the necessary data was not able to find enough respondents to the questionnaire who would understand the questions that needed to be asked for the Survey. In seeing through these submissions, Chief Justice Sivagnanam orally remarked:

“Very simple questions…the types of disabilities into five columns…under locomotor [disability] the first question is, whether having any difficulty in using hands, fingers, toes and body movements…where is the difficulty…you get your written instructions and argue. Don’t argue like this.”

Coram: Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya

Case: Disability Activists Forum & Anr. V Union of India & Ors [WPA (P) 332 of 2023]