Chief Secretary gets HC notice

Vijay Arora

Shimla, December 22

The High Court today issued a notice to the Chief Secretary taking cognisance of a letter written by a visually challenged student on the issue of lack of facilities for visually challenged students at HPU, colleges and schools in the state.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan also issued a notice to the Principal Secretary (Education), Director of Higher Education, Vice-Chancellor and HPU Registrar and directed them to file their replies within a week and posted the matter for December 31.

The court passed these orders on a petition taken up suo moto as a public interest litigation on a letter written to the Chief Justice by a visually challenged student of HPU, Banita Rana.

The applicant had rued the lack of facilities for blind students in a student’s life in the state and said nothing had been done to protect the rights of persons with disabilities by the university, schools and colleges in spite of the fact that the Supreme Court had directed all states, including Himachal, to implement provisions of the Persons with Disability Act, 1995, by the end of this year.