Kerala High Court Directs Department Of Empowerment Of PwD Not To Reject Scholarship Plea Of 75% Visually Impaired Law Student
Tellmy Jolly
30 Nov 2024 10:21 AM IST
In an interim order passed on Friday (November 29) the Kerala High Court directed the Department Of Empowerment Of Persons With Disabilities not to reject a scholarship application of a 75 percent visually impaired first-year law student on account of non submission of Unique Disability ID (UDID) details.
In doing so the court prima facie noted that the petitioner who is a student at NUALS, Kochi should not be denied benefits accrued to him for reasons which are not attributable to him.
Justice V G Arun directed the Central Government Counsel to get instructions in the matter and ordered thus:
“Being of the prima facie opinion that the petitioner should not be denied the benefits due to him for reasons which are not attributable to him, respondents 1 (Department Of Empowerment Of Persons With Disabilities) and 2 (Director, Scholarships Department Of Empowerment Of Persons With Disabilities) are directed not to reject the application submitted by the petitioner, citing non-submisison of the UDID Card.”
The petitioner is a 75 percent visually impaired first-year law student at the National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS). The petitioner, who hails from marginalised and economically weak background, was aggrieved by the inaction of the Department Of Empowerment Of Persons With Disabilities (under Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment) due to which he was unable to apply for 'Scholarship for Top Class Education for Students with Disabilities' despite meeting all eligibility criteria. Notably, this scholarship enables students with disabilities to pursue higher education in premier institutions.
The petitioner claims that he was unable to apply for the scholarship due to the non-receipt of disability data from the Unique Disability ID (UDID) server. He further stated that although he has been attempting to obtain a UDID card since May this year, it has not yet been issued to him.
The petitioner thus approached the High Court seeking a direction to respondents for not rejecting his application for non-submission of UDID card details since the last date to submit the scholarship application is November 30.
The plea stated that the inaction of the respondents violates the Right to Persons with Disabilities Act as well as the petitioner's right to receive scholarship to pursue his higher education.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on December 3.
The plea has been moved by Advocates Shinto Mathew Abraham, Arun Thomas, Karthika Maria, Veena Raveendran, Anil Sebastian Pulickel, Mathew Nevin Thomas, Manasa Benny George, Karthik Rajagopal, Joe S. Adhikaram, Leah Rachel Ninan, Noel Ninan Ninan, Adeen Nazar, Aparnna S., Kurian Antony Mathew
Case Title: Golla Madhu v Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities
Case Number: WP(C) 42738/2024
