Commissioner for person with disabilities on Thursday said that a pan-India survey carried by an NGO which had shown J&K at bottom of ranking under Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act-2016 was not applicable to J&K.
“It is clearly mentioned on page number 4 (of the survey) that Jammu and Kashmir is yet to enact the Act in their State. Therefore the entire sections, provisions and its indicators are not valid/applicable when it comes to state of Jammu and Kashmir,” said a communique from the commisionarate.
It said the entire survey/report is “Two Years of The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act 2016 – Status of implementation in the States and UTs of India” and “does not qualify to capture Jammu and Kashmir”.
“The state has enacted Jammu & Kashmir Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1998 and rules 2003 thereof. The Government of India in 2016 has enacted the Rights of PWD Act, 2016 (RPWD Act, 2016) which was passed by both the houses of the Parliament and was notified on December 28, 2016,” the communique said.
It said the Rights of PWD Act, 2016 (RPWD Act, 2016) which is a central Act as such was not applicable to J&K. However, J&K has recently enacted the Rights of PWD Act, 2018 (RPWD Act, 2018) which was approved by the State Administrative Council (SAC) on 22nd of November 2018, the communique said.