State has to ensure PwDs are not harassed with transfers: Delhi HC

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has set aside the transfer of an orthopaedically handicapped railway employee to Chhattisgarh, saying the State has to ensure that persons with disabilities are not subjected to unnecessary and relentless harassment by being transferred to places where they are unable to get an environment conducive for their working.

Justice Chandra Dhari Singh said the law provides for equal opportunity for persons with disabilities, and to ensure the same, there are several office memorandums which state that transfers and job postings of such employees has to be such that they are given the choice to be posted at their preferred place and may even be exempted from rotational transfers.

The petitioner, an employee of IRCON International Ltd, a government company incorporated by the Ministry of Railways, submitted he has a knee length prosthetic, which needs regular maintenance at a workshop in Delhi. A posting outside Delhi, he said, will deprive him of access to health care that he needs due to his special and severe medical condition.

Justice Singh said the court has to be more sensitive and empathetic to the plight of a person with disability in order to ensure that values enshrined in the Constitution of India are duly protected, and concluded that the transfer of the petitioner to another state may hinder his treatment.

The court noted Section 20 of the Rights of PwDs Act states that the government shall provide reasonable accommodation, appropriate barrier-free and conducive environment to all such people.