Delhi yet to appoint a full-time state disability commissioner

After TD Dhariyal’s term as the state commissioner for PwD ended in December, the Delhi government gave additional charge to former bureaucrat Ramesh Negi, who was then the chairman of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, in March

The post of the state commissioner for persons with disabilities (PwD) in Delhi has been vacant for five-and-a-half months. Disability rights activists want the Delhi government to fill the post so that grievances of PwD can be addressed at the earliest, especially during the Coronavirus pandemic.

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After TD Dhariyal’s term as the state commissioner for PwD ended in December, the Delhi government gave additional charge to former bureaucrat Ramesh Negi, who was then the chairman of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, in March. But Negi’s tenure ended in May and since then the post has been vacant.

In the absence of a full-time state commissioner, the staff is forwarding complaints to the respective departments for necessary action or requesting action taken reports. “We are getting a lot of complaints. But we are just forwarding them to the concerned departments. If we get action taken report, we forward it to the complainant,” said an official at the state commissioner’s office, requesting anonymity.

“The subordinate officials don’t have the power to pass any order. It is only the state Commissioner who can issue notices, summons, and hold hearings to address the grievances of people and pass orders for departments to comply. While the pandemic has been tough on people at large, it has made things extremely difficult for people with disabilities,” said Dhariyal.

Social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam said, “We had initiated the process to appoint a new commissioner before the assembly elections and had sent a few names to the chief secretary. As services are not under us, the selection of the new state commissioner has to be done by the committee chaired by the chief secretary.”

Delhi government’s chief secretary Vijay Dev said, “Principal secretary home is heading the committee and the process is on.”

Stressing on the need for a full-time commissioner, disability rights advocate and co-founder of Samarthyam Anjlee Agarwal cited how caregivers for PwD were listed among those eligible for a curfew pass during the lockdown after she approached the then commissioner Negi to intervene.

“The fact that there was a state commissioner for PwD, it became easier for us to get the issue addressed. The commissioner is the bridge between the disabled person and the government. An important order passed in Delhi can be replicated in other parts of the country,” Agarwal said.

Dr Satendra Singh, professor at University College of Medical Sciences, said that state commissioners are the nodal authority to address concerns of people.

“People with disabilities are facing problems, especially now during Covid pandemic, related to getting disability certificates, office-related matters etc. The Centre has also said that the commissioners will be the nodal officers to address all issues faced by disabled people during the pandemic. But the post is lying vacant for so many months. The government should appoint a full-time commissioner so that our grievances can be addressed at the earliest.”