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PWD Act 1995 - Preliminary

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights & Full Participation) Act, 1995
Republic of India.
[No. 1 of 1996 ¹]
1st January, 1996

An Act to give effect to the Proclamation on the Full Participation and Equality of the People with Disabilities in the Asian and Pacific Region

Whereas The meeting to Launch the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons 1993-2002 convened by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific held at Beijing on the 1st to 5th December, 1992, adopted the Proclamation of the Full Participation and Equality of People with Disabilities in the Asian and Pacific Region;

And whereas India is a signatory to the said Proclamation;

And whereas it is considered necessary to implement the Proclamation aforesaid.

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Forty-sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-

Short title, extent and commencement.
1. This act may be called the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.
2. It extend to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
3. It shall come into force on such date² as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint.
Comments

Harmonious construction.-It is well settled that when such a harmonious construction is possible and which furthers the object of the Act, namely, to promote thrift and channelise private savings for national use the same must be preferred to the construction which leads to a conflict³.
Duty of Court.-The Courts should lean more in favour of an interpretational process which would promote a laudable object and eschew one which would sap its efficacy and leave it as a dead wood, as it were.⁴
Definitions.- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
1. "appropriate Government" means,-
  1. in relation to Central Government, or any establishment wholly or substantially financed by that Government, or a Cantonment Board constituted under the Cantonments Act, 1924 (2 of 1924),the Central Government;
  2. in relation to a State Government or any establishment wholly or substantially financed by that Government, or any local authority, other than a Cantonment Board, the State Government;
  3. in respect of the Central Co-ordination Committee and the State Executive Committee, the Central Government;
  4. in respect of the State Co-ordination Committee and the State Executive Committee, the State Government;
2. "blindness" refers to a condition where a person suffers from any of the following conditions, namely:-
  1. total absence of sight; or
  2. visual acuity not exceeding 6/60 or 20/200 (snellen) in the better eye with correcting lenses; or
  3. limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of 20 degree or worse;
3. "Central Co-ordination Committee" means the Central Co-ordination Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of Sec. 3;
4. "Central Executive Committee" means the Central Executive Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of Sec. 9;
5. "cerebral palsy" means a group of non-progressive conditions of a person characterised by abnormal motor control posture resulting from brain insult or injuries occurring in the pre-natal, peri-natal or infant period of development;
6. "Chief Commissioner" means Chief Commissioner appointed under sub-section (1) of Sec. 57;
7. "Commissioner" means Commissioner appointed under sub-section (1) of Sec. 60;
8. "competent authority" means the authority appointed under Sec. 50;
9. "disability" means,-
  1. blindness;
  2. low vision;
  3. leprosy-cured;
  4. hearing impairment;
  5. locomotor disability;
  6. mental retardation;
  7. mental illness;
10. "employer" means,-
  1. in relation to a Government, the authority notified by the Head of the Department in this behalf or where no such authority is notified, the Head of the Department; and
  2. in relation to an establishment, the chief executive officer of that establishment;
11. "establishment" means a corporation established by or under a Central, Provincial or State Act, or an authority or a body owned or controlled by the Government or a local authority or a Government company as defined in Sec. 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) and includes Departments of a Government
12. "hearing impairment" means loss of sixty decibels or more in the better year in the conversational range of frequencies;
13. "institution for persons with disabilities" means an institution for the reception, care, protection, education, training, rehabilitation or any other service of persons with disabilities;
14. "leprosy cured person" means any person who has been cured of leprosy but is suffering from-
  1. loss of sensation in hands or feet as well as loss of sensation and paresis in the eye and eye-lid but with no manifest deformity;
  2. manifest deformity and paresis but having sufficient mobility in their hands and feet to enable them to engage in normal economic activity;
  3. extreme physical deformity as well as advanced age which prevents him from undertaking any gainful occupation, and the expression "leprosy cured" shall be construed accordingly.
15. "locomotor disability" means disability of the bones, joints or muscles leading to substantial restriction of the movement of the limbs or any form of cerebral palsy;
16. "medical authority" means any hospital or institution specified for the purposes of this Act by notification by the appropriate Government;
17. "mental illness" means any mental disorder other than mental retardation;
18. "mental retardation" means a conduction of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person which is specially characterised by subnormality of the intelligence;
19. "notification" means a notification published in the official Gazette;
20. "person with disability" means a person suffering from not less than forty per cent. of any disability as certified by a medical authority;
21. "person with low vision" means a person with impairment of visual function even after treatment or standard refractive correction but who uses or is potentially capable of using vision for the planning or execution of a task with appropriate assistive device;
22. "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
23. "rehabilitation" refers to process aimed at enabling persons with disabilities to reach and maintain their optimal physical, sensory, intellectual, psychiatric or social functional levels;
24. "Special Employment Exchange" means any office or place established and maintained by the government for the collection and furnishing of information, either by keeping of registers or otherwise, respecting-
  1. persons who seek to engage employees from amongst the persons suffering from disabilities;
  2. persons with disability who seek employment;
  3. vacancies to which person with disability seeking employment may be appointed;
25. "State Co-ordination Committee" means the State Co-ordination Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of Sec. 13;
26. "State Executive Committee" means the State Executive Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of Sec. 19;

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