The Disabled Students Association at Himachal Pradesh University (HPU)on Wednesday rued non-implementation of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and denial of admission to disabled students in the varsity under five per cent quota.
In a representation to Governor, Acharya Devvrat, who is also the chancellor of the HPU, Convener of the Association, Ph.D scholar, Satish K Thakur said as per the Act, all government, institutions of higher education and other educational institutions receiving aid from the government shall reserve not less than five per cent seats for the persons with benchmark disabilities.
“However, the HPU is not following it,” he said, while citing two cases.
He said Indu Kumari, a 90 per cent blind student from a remote area of Chamba a very remote area of Chamba district, who is from a poor background, attended the counseling of Master of Arts (Political Science) and was denied admission. “The authorities said this year only one seat has fallen as per university roster in the disability quota and that seat was given to the other disabled student with higher marks. However, under the new law, it was the duty of the university authorities to reserve five seats for the disabled students in all classes and in the class of 40 students, two seats were to be reserved. But, Indu Kumari was deprived of her legal right,” he alleged.
Thakur said the other case is of Ravinder Thakur, a physically disabled student from the backward district of Sirmaur.
“He belongs to a BPL (Below Poverty Line) family. When he sought admission in Master of Arts (Economics) and attended counseling for the same, he was shocked to know that no disability quota has been given this year as per faulty roster system of the university,” he said.
He said the prestigious University of Delhi and JNU have given 5 per cent reservation to disabled students from the academic session 2017-2018. “But the HPU follows an age old faulty roster system for the reservation, which is already settled by the Supreme Court,” he said.