Footpath Bollards Making It Impossible For Wheelchair-Bound In Mumbai To Pass Through: Bombay High Court Takes Suo Moto Cognizance

The Bombay High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of inaccessibility of footpaths to the differently abled in Mumbai owing to recently installed bollards.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Arif Doctor directed the High Court Registry to issue notice to the Municipal Corporation returnable on October 18, 2023.

Last week, Advocate Jamshed Mistry mentioned an email sent to him by a differently abled person - Karan Shah. Shah asserted he was wheelchair bound since birth due to Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type III. He claimed the poles and bollards recently installed by the Municipal Corporation on every footpath have rendered them inaccessible to him.

"They claim that these actions are meant to make footpaths more accessible for people with disabilities, but in reality, it feels like a mockery when wheelchair users like myself cannot navigate them. Bikes, scooters, humans can go through those poles, but a wheelchair user can't," he said.

"The BMC & the government of Maharashtra have used our name, the disabled community name many times and have made false promises to all of us for years. We are not yet seeing a disabled friendly Mumbai," he further said in the email.

The court perused the pictures attached to the email and observed,

"One of the photographs depicts that the distance between the poles is so little that it makes it impossible for the wheelchair to pass through. The end result is that even though these poles/bollards have been installed to ensure inter-alia that the footpaths are safer and more conducive to use for those who are differently abled and/or those having to use wheelchairs, but in fact, they cannot."

Mistry also relied on an order passed by the Madras High Court in which a similar issue had arisen and is being looked into.

"Given this, we find it appropriate to take Suo Moto cognizance of the grievance raised by Mr. Karan Sunil Shah in the said email," Court said and appointed advocate Jamshed Mistry as amicus. The matter has now been posted for hearing on October 18, 2023.

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