Chennai
Hearing a batch of pleas alleging lack of COVID relief to the differently abled, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu said, “Even the latest status report reeks of ad hocism, which has been the bane of the executive. There ought to be a short-term and long-term plan and it is such plan that the court requires to put in place.” The bench agreed that some disbursements have been made to the needy, but pointed out that Rs 1,000 granted as one-time assistance has no meaning in this day and age. “It’s possible that allegations are too general and court orders far too sweeping, but it’s for the State to keep the matter focused and indicate the exact nature of work done and the parameters taken into account in assessing the extent of assistance or the persons to whom it would be done and the general methodology,” the court held.
Good administration required appropriate persons to be engaged and plans chalked out for implementation, the bench said. “There is no doubt there may be competing interest which fight for the limited resources available with the State, but it cannot be that the persons with disabilities, who may not have the means to support, being left in the lurch without plan A or plan B.” While the government furnished figures in various reports, there was no database of the diff-abled in the State and their situation, the bench added, directing Advocate General R Shanmugasundaram to file a report indicating the short-term and long-term plans by September 23.
The bench also held that persons suffering with disabilities could not be put in the same basket. Age, location and various other factors would go into the decision-making process as to who should receive what extent of assistance and the periodicity.
“There has to be an intent before a problem could be addressed or relief granted,” it said.
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