States must reserve land for disabled: SC

The Supreme Court said that all state governments must provide reservation in their scheme for allotment of lands for disabled persons at concessional rates. "We are issuing directions that whenever any state government or local (municipal) body works out scheme for allotment of land, they must provide reservation for disabled persons at concessional rates," a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and J M Panchal said on Wednesday. The order was passed on a PIL which had said that a provision in the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 makes it mandatory for the state to provide land to disabled persons on preferential and concessional basis. Salil Chaturvedi, a disabled person, through advocate Prashant Bhushan, had filed the PIL in 2004 alleging the government never implemented Section 43 of the Act in this regard. The court noted that though a notice in the matter was issued long ago, many states have not implemented the law in its true spirit. It said some states have partially implemented it, which was not sufficient to respond to the purpose for which the law was enacted.

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