New Delhi 2nd May 2006

Employment related provisions comprise the core element of Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 as they yield the most tangible benefits to promote dignity of persons with disability. This is however by no means an unqualified endorsement. The ambivalence is amply borne out by the fact that compared to other provisions of the Disabilities Act, 1995, employment related provisions have been visiting court-rooms the most, leading to the largest number of judicial pronouncements around them.
Spiraling litigation on various aspects of the right to work for persons with disability motivated the Commission to review the safeguards provided under the Constitution and the various laws especially under the Disabilities Act, 1995. Towards this end, the Commission in partnership with Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), which is a national network of legal aid centers around the country, undertook the analysis of some fifteen hundred cases and complaints. It was a painstaking job to collect these cases as they are scattered across the geographical expanse of the country as well as across the ladders of judicial and quasi-judicial forums.
Study of these cases revealed that on the one hand disability rights jurisprudence is picking up momentum, and on the other, prejudice, ignorance and insensitivity continue to hamper realization of rights. Hardly any systematic effort has been made towards removing the inconsistencies in the administrative rules and procedures. Some modifications have come about but largely with intervention of judiciary.
This 'Handbook on Employment of Persons with Disabilities in Government of India' is a modest attempt by which the Commission intends to equip the administrators, labour law practitioners, employee's associations and persons with disabilities with precise knowledge about laws, rules, administrative procedures and mechanisms that govern the employment of persons with disabilities in the Government of India and Public Sector Undertakings.
The Handbook is arranged in fifteen chapters. About one hundred and fifty questions have been catalogued and responded to. The answers familiarize the readers with various aspects of employment in accordance with the law, rules and relevant procedures. For proper consideration of court law, examples of jurisprudence have also been cited under relevant questions.
We hope and wish that this Handbook would serve as practical guide for the administrators, legal practitioners and persons with disability in employment or seeking employment.
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