IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CIVIL WRIT JURISDICTION CASE No.6003 of 2006 ==================================== Bihar Blind Peoples Care Socie .... .... Petitioner Versus The State Of Bihar & Ors .... .... Respondents ==================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner : Mr. Dr. Uma Shankar Pd., Senior Advocate Mr. Bhuneshwar Pandey, Advocate Mr. Kamata Kant Tiwary, Advocate Mr. Dineshwar Pd.Singh For the Respondent/s : Mr. (Aag6) Mr. Dr.R.Ranjan(Asst.Sg) Mr. S.N.Pathak Mr. P.L.Jaiswal (Cgc) ==================================== 17 30.06.2011 This Public Interest Litigation has been filed by petitioner-society registered under the Socieity Registration Act object of which is to work for the disabled children including the blind children. The prayers made in the writ petition as based on Section 26 of Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities etc.) Act, 1995 which reads as under: “26. Appropriate Governments and local authorities to provide children with disabilities,free education, etc.- The appropriate Governments and the local authorities shall - (a) ensure that every child with a disability has access to free education in an appropriate environment till he attains the age of eighteen years; (b) endeavour to promote the integration of students with disabilities in the normal schools; (c) promote setting up of special schools in Government and private sector for those in need of special education, in such a manner that children with disabilities living in any part of the county have access to such schools; (d) endeavour to equip the special schools for children with disabilities with vocational training facilities.” On the basis of aforesaid provision the following prayers have been made in the writ petition. 1. That this is an application for issuance of appropriate writs and directions for the following reliefs: i) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to command the Respondents to make proposal to benefit actual beneficiaries who are disabled children if any admitted by the Govt. in schools as well as children receiving Integrated Education by the society in different schools under the scheme of the Central Govt. For Integrated Education for disabled children under the Persons with disabilities (Equal opportunities etc.) Act, 1995. ii) To quash the cooked up proposal contained in the Memorandum of Govt. of Bihar in the Department of Primary and Adult Education, Human Resources Department dated 29.7.2005 (contained in Annexure-4) in which not even a single actual beneficiary is included and also to punish the erring officials. iii) To command the Respondent No.2 to identify the competent Non-Government Organisation having expertise to implement the Integrated Education Scheme having specially qualified /trained teachers to impart education to disabled children. iv) To command Respondent No.2 to accommodate all actual beneficiaries of the Bihar Blind Society with other beneficiaries and provide the financial assistance out of the fund amounting to Rs.1,37,76,421.00 allotted by the Govt. of India to the respondent No.1, half-out of which has been already made available to the Respondent No.1. v) To command the Respondents 1 to 4 not to divert, misutilise, misuse or in any way to eat away the funds made available by the Central Govt. for the implementation of the scheme of integrated education for the Disabled Children. vi) To command the Respondents 1 to 4 to utilize the fund sanctioned by the Central Govt. amounting to Rs.1,37,76,421.00 (Rs. One Crore thirty seven lakh seventy six thousand four hundred twenty one) half out of which amounting to Rs.68,88,210.00 (Rs. Sixty eight lacs eighty eight thousand two hundred ten) has been made available to Respondents 1 to 4 to be spent for the disabled children who are real beneficiaries in the state including the Children the petitioner the society receiving integrated education in the Session 1995-96. vii) Be further pleased to restrain the Respondents 1 to 4 from utilising the amount unless the Respondents 1 to 4 place before this Hon'ble Court the list of disabled children if any admitted by the State Govt. in the schools as well as the list of the Children receiving integrated education by the petitioner society under the scheme during the Session 2005-06, and are included for the financial benefits out of the aforesaid fund made available under the scheme for 2005-06. And also be pleased to grant any other relief or reliefs for effective implementation of the scheme. In para 22 to 30 onwards the statement of fact is relevant for considering the nature of the writ petition and the same is being reproduced herein under: “22. That the petitioner society is the only organization in the State of Bihar which is implementing this scheme of Integrated Education to the disabled children. Neither the State Government nor any other organization is doing this job. The petitioner society alone has expertise in the integrated education to disabled. Although Rs. One thousand crore was earmarked in the 9th 5 years plan but in this Stae of Bihar only the amount of Rs.26 lacs and odd has been released and that also after great harassment to the petitioner and after moving this Hon'ble Court for the amount which the society has spent over the scheme. Although the Bihar's share would be at least Rs.100 Crores. 23. That this society is implementing the scheme since the year 1990-91. The society became eligible for the grant from the Central Govt. Since 1993. Though the petitioner society is implementing the scheme continuously since 1990-91 till date but it has received grant only for two year 1994-95 and 2000-2001. Rest of the expenditure done by the society has not been received as yet though the society has been found to be suitable by the State Govt. and is also implementing the scheme and the disable students are receiving benefit from the society and the State Govt. 24. that the petitioner society was imparting integrated education to more than 3000 students and there were 69 teachers in 2005-06. It is unfortunate that the petitioner-society which is really implementing the scheme and is imparting education to disabled is starving for this fund and due to lack of fund it is at the verge of closure and the Respondents 1 to 4 who are doing nothing are trying to usurp the central Govt.'s fund exclusively granted for disabled children suitable for Integrated Education. 25. That the petitioner society is imparting integrated education to more than 3000 students and there are 42 teachers at present working. It is unfortunate that the petitioner-society which is really implementing the scheme and is imparting education to disabled is starving for this fund and due to lack of fund it is at the verge of closure and the Respondents 1 to 4 who are doing nothing are trying to usurp the Central Govt's fund exclusively granted for the disabled. 26. That, the petitioner society is a voluntary organization and also being desirous of implementing the scheme of Integrated Education for the Disabled Children sent its proposal in the prescribed format through the State Government (Respondent No.4 and 5) to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, New Delhi (Respondent No.1), for getting financial assistance and accordingly the State Government gave its views regarding the eligibility, suitability relevance of the proposal of the capacity of the petitioner society to implement it. It may be mentioned that the proposal of the petitioner society with the recommendation of the State Government were accordingly sent to the Ministry of Human Resources Development (Department of Education) Government of India for every year, for the financial years that is 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 and 2005-06, have not been sent of the State Government for reasons known to them. The State Government never sent the proposals to Respondent No.1 in time. 27. That the petitioner society is implementing the scheme of the Respondent No.1 since the year 1993-94 and is going on doing it continuously since then till today strictly according to norms fixed by the Respondent No.1 in the scheme and the petitioners is doing all expenditure accordingly. The education is a continuous phenomenon and the student who is admitted in pre-school as well as Primary Schools have to be carried on upto the secondary Education stage. 28. That in between the year 1993-94 till the present 2006-07 the number of disabled students went on increasing and the number of schools also went on increasing and the expenditure done by the society also sent on increasing which is evident from the proposals sent by the petitioner to the central Government duly forwarded and approved by the State Government, up to 2000-01. 29. That in between the year 1993-94 to 2005-06 only financial assistance for the year 1994-1995 and 2000-2001 only have been paid to the society. Although each proposal for respective year was sent before 31st December of preceeding year to the State Govt. with advance copy to the Respondent No.1. 30. That the payment of the year 1994-95 could be possible on the interference and the direction by this Hon'ble Court dated 06.10.1999 in C.W.J.C. No.6823 of 1999. The society every time has to take great pains and tremendous and herculian efforts at the level of the State Government to get the proposals forwarded to the Central Government, although it is a mere formality but writs have to be filed, contempt petitions are moved and then proposals are sent by the State Government to the Central Government. This fact stated directly the prayer clause 6 and 7 is based on the above fact which shows that the society has a personal interest and while drafting the writ petition to protect his personal interest the petition has been drafted as and so presented by the society and presented before the court in the nature of PIL. No doubt Section 26 creates obligation on the State to provide the free education to the disabled children up to the age of 18 years and it is stated in the writ petition that a cell has been created by the State Government to monitor the aforesaid object. Thus, so far as claim of the petitioner society with regard to the age or relevance of fund is concerned that shall be released after due verification by the Chairman or Competent Authority of the cell appointed by the State Government. Since so created as stated in the writ petition, is directed to ensure free and integrated education in all the institutions either run by a society or it is run by the Government as the “State of Bihar as well as the Union of India has not disputed the fact that the recommendation for payment has been made. In that view of the matter these writ petitions are disposed of with a direction that the competent authority of the Central Government after communicating with the State Government and the petitioner shall decide whether the amount is payable as per the norms and thereafter pass a cogent and germane order keeping in view the recommendation of the State Government and other requisite norms that govern the field.” But it is made clear that the grant received shall be spelt only under the scheme which has been issued by the Government of India which is contained in Annexure-1/A to the writ petition and all the procedure contained in scheme shall be followed. With the aforesaid directions the PIL is disposed of. PN (Prakash Chandra Verma, J) (Aditya Kumar Trivedi, J)