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2026 Supreme(SC) 478

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
VIKRAM NATH, SANDEEP MEHTA, JJ.
Justice Sunanda Bhandare Foundation – Petitioner
Versus
Union Of India & Ors. – Respondents
Writ Petition (Civil) No(s). 116 of 1998 With Civil Appeal No(s). 11938 of 2016 Diary No(s). 29329 of 2021 Diary No(s). 26974 of 2024
Decided On : 28-04-2026

Advocates appeared:
For the Petitioner(s):Mr. Colin Gonsalves, Sr. Adv. Mr. Manik Gupta, Adv. Ms. Puja Sharma, AOR Mr. K. Parameshwar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Akshay Sahay, Adv. Mr. A. Karthik, AOR Ms. Smrithi Suresh, Adv. Petitioner-in-person Ms. Manali Singhal, Adv. Ms. Shreya Singhal, Adv. Mr. Santosh Sachin, Adv. Ms. Aanchal Kapur, Adv. Mr. Deepak Singh Rawat, Adv. Mr. Tejasvi Kumar, Adv. Mr. Somnath Bhattacharya, Adv. Mr. Ambar Qamaruddin, AOR
For the Respondent(s):Mr. D. S. Mahra, AOR Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Ms. Sushma Suri, AOR Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR Mr. T. V. George, AOR Ms. Rajkumari Banju, AOR Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR Mr. Shree Pal Singh, AOR Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR Mr. C. K. Sasi, AOR Dr. K.K. Geetha, Adv. Ms. Meena K. Poulose, Adv. Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR Mr. Abhijit Sengupta, AOR Mr. Paras Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Navneet Singh, Adv. Mr. Vishal Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Kuheli Mitra, Adv. Mr. R.S. Mishra, Adv. Mr. Sunil Ahya, Adv. Ms. Gursheen Kaur, Adv. Mr. Harsh Verma, Adv. Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Ms. Yanmi Phazang, Adv. Ms. Diksha Rai, AOR Ms. Purvat Wali, Adv. Ms. Sagun Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Rajani Ohri Lal, AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Ms. G. Indira, AOR Mr. P Gandepan, Adv. Ms. Yashi Jain, Adv. Ms. Anjali Singh, Adv. Mr. Sachin, Adv. Mr. Prince Kumar Insa, Adv. Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Ms. Priyal Sheth, Adv. Mr. S. Biswal, Adv. Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Sarvjit Pratap Singh, Adv. Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, Adv. Mr. Manoj Ranjan Sinha, Adv. Mr. Vishal Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, AOR Mr. Anuvrat Sharma, AOR M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Mr. Jagjit Singh Chhabra, AOR Mr. G. Prakash, AOR Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, A.S.G. Mr. Nachiketa Joshi, Adv. Mr. R.R. Rajesh, Adv. Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Ms. Sunita Sharma, Adv. Mr. Jitender Kr. Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Amit Sharma-b, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Ms. Rekha Pandey, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Mr. Saransh Kumar, Adv. Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR Mr. T.N. Ramarao, Adv. Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Mr. Anupam Kumar, Adv. Ms. Priyanka, Adv. Ms. Ishtha Singh, Adv. Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR Mr. K. V. Mohan, AOR Mr. Anil Shrivastav, AOR Ms. Diva Singh, Adv. Mr. Devendra Singh, AOR Mr. Avinash Poddar, Adv. Mr. Ankit, Adv. Mr. Swagat Nanda, Adv. Mr. Bhupender Yadav, Adv. Mr. Arunender Thakur, Adv. Mr. Anukirat Singh Baweja, Adv. Ms. Ananaya Khare, Adv. Mr. R. Sathish, AOR Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR Mrs. D. Bharathi Reddy, AOR Ms. Pragati Neekhra, AOR M/S. K J John And Co, AOR Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. Satish Vig, AOR Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, A.S.G. Ms. Snidha Mehra, Adv. Mr. Nishesh Sharma, Adv. Ms. Aaditya Dixit, Adv. Mr. Saransh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv. Ms. Madhulika Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Gulshan Kumar Bajwa, AOR Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, AOR Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. Arjun Garg, AOR Mr. Sudarshan Lamba, AOR Mr. Sahil Bhalaik, AOR Mr. Tushar Giri, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Anil Khanna, Adv. Mr. Ritik Arora, Adv. Mr. Shivam Mishra, Adv. Mr. Mihir Joshi, Adv. Mr. Sewa Singh, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar, Sr. Adv., Advocate General Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. Aditya Shankar Pandey, Adv. Mr. T.k. Nayak, Adv. Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Adv. Mr. Aditya Kumar, Adv. Ms. Disha Singh, AOR Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv. Ms. Akansha, Adv. Ms. Anjali Saxena, Adv. Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Dr. Abhishek Atrey, Adv. Ms. Rachna Gandhi, Adv. Ms. Ambika Atrey, Adv. Mr. Navneet Gupta, Adv. Mr. Surjendu Sankar Das, AOR Mr. Vishal Rishi Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Narendra Kumar, AOR Ms. Manisha T. Karia, A.A.G. Mr. Sarthak Raizada Ga, Adv. Mr. Harmeet Singh Ruprah, AOR Mr. Kanishk Sharma, Adv. Mr. Karan Singh, Adv. Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Mr. Arjun D Singh, Adv. Mrs. Ishika Neogi, Adv. Ms. Ishika Neogi, Adv. Mr. Divya Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Divye Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Maninderjit Singh Bedi, Advocate General Mr. Chanchal Singla, A.A.G. Mr. Siddhant Sharma, AOR Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Mr. Vikrant Narayan Vasudeva, AOR Mr. Kapil Kumar, Adv. Mr. Shantanu Sagar, AOR Mr. Anil Kumar, Adv. Mr. Gunjesh Ranjan, Adv. Mr. Prakash Kumar Mangalam, Adv. Mr. Manoneet Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Kumar Gupta, Adv. Ms. Anshala Verma, Adv. Mr. Nishant Ramakantrao Katneshwarkar, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Santhosh K, Adv. Mrs. Devika A.L., Adv. Mr. Shekhar Raj Sharma, A.A.G. Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR Mr. Sarthak Srivastava, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Narwal, Adv. Mr. Mayur Goyal, Adv. Ms. Srishti Jain, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Sanchit Garga, AOR Mr. Lenin Singh Hijam, Advocate General Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Shamra, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. Anjuman Tripathy, AOR Ms. Amisha Chauhan, Adv. Ms. Suveni Bhagat, AOR Ms. Rachna Gandhi, Adv. Mr. Siddhesh Shirish Kotwal, AOR Mr. Tanmaya Agarwal, AOR Mr. Wrick Chatterjee, Adv. Mrs. Aditi Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Udit Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR Mr. P. Venkatraju, Adv. Ms. G. Sushmita, Adv. Ms. M. Harshini, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Shankar Jain, AOR Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Mr. Krishna Rastogi, Adv. Mr. Aryan Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR Ms. Sanskriti Pathak, A.A.G. Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Shalini Singh, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR Mr. Bhakti Vardhan Singh, AOR Mr. Pawan Narang, Adv. Mr. J Tarun Kumar, Adv. Mr. Sauvik Singh, Adv. Mr. Narendra Pandey, Adv. Mr. Ankit Khatri, Adv. Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Ms. Aswathi M.k., AOR Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Ankit Raj, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Verma, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv. Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Mukul Singh, Adv. Ms. Priyadarshini Priya, Adv. Mr. Yogesh Vats, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Mr. Nimesh Bhatt, Adv. Mr. T. R. B. Sivakumar, AOR Mr. K. V. Vijayakumar, AOR Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Ms. Riya Dhingra, Adv. Mr. Utkarsh Anand, Adv. Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. Jayant Mohan, AOR Ms. Adya Shree Dutta, Adv. Ms. Dorjee Ongmu Lachungpa, Adv. Mr. Priyanshu Teotia, Adv. Mr. Alok Sangwan, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, AOR Mr. Sumit Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Rajat Sangwan, Adv. Mr. Vaibhav Yadav, Adv. Mr. Harsh Mehla, Adv. Mr. Sudhanshu Rai, Adv. Mr. Rajat Sinha Roy, Adv. Mr. Shubham Malik, Adv. Mr. Ramendra Nath Makhal, Adv. Mr. Rajmani Mohanty, Adv. Mr. Vaibhav Vikram Singh, Adv. Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Anika Bansal, Adv. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR Mr. Divyansh Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kumar Saurav, Adv. Dr. Ravindra Chingale, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv. Mr. Sanchit Garga, AOR Mr. Kisalaya Shukla, AOR Mr. Sahil Bhalaik, AOR Mr. Tushar Giri, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Anil Khanna, Adv. Mr. Ritik Arora, Adv. Mr. Shivam Mishra, Adv. Mr. Mihir Joshi, Adv. Mr. Sewa Singh, Adv. Ms. Sanskriti Pathak, A.A.G. Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Shalini Singh, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR Mr. Lenin Singh Hijam, Advocate General Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Shamra, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Ms. Sugandha Anand, AOR Ms. G. Indira, AOR Mr. Prince Kumar Insa, Adv. Mr. Rushab Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Anika Bansal, Adv. Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Ms. Priyal Sheth, Adv. Mr. S. Biswal, Adv. Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Ms. Riya Dhingra, Adv. Mr. Utkarsh Anand, Adv. Ms. Aswathi M.K., AOR Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Mr. Arjun D Singh, Adv. Mrs. Ishika Neogi, Adv. Ms. Ishika Neogi, Adv. Mr. Divya Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Divye Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Nishant Ramakantrao Katneshwarkar, AOR Mr. Guntur Prabhakar, AOR Mr. Shree Pal Singh, AOR Mr. T. R. B. Sivakumar, AOR Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Ankit Raj, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Verma, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv. Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Mukul Singh, Adv. Ms. Priyadarshini Priya, Adv. Mr. Yogesh Vats, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Mr. Tanmaya Agarwal, AOR Mr. Wrick Chatterjee, Adv. Mrs. Aditi Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Udit Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR Mr. Divyansh Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kumar Saurav, Adv. Mr. Ram Narayan Mohanty, Adv. Mr. Rakesh Kumar, Adv.

IMPORTANT POINT
Project Ability Empowerment – It is appropriate that National Law Universities entrusted with exercise under “Project Ability Empowerment”, in terms of directions issued by this Court, undertake detailed and structured assessment of implementation of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 across all States and Union Territories.

Headnote:
Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 – Section 3 – Project Ability Empowerment – Failure to establish mandatory institutional mechanisms, including State Funds for Persons with Disabilities, and inadequate implementation across key areas of Act, 2016 – In view of fact that almost all States and Union Territories have now appointed Nodal Officers, issue relating to implementation of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 can be more effectively and comprehensively examined by National Law Universities entrusted with exercise under “Project Ability Empowerment” – Appointment of Nodal Officers provides institutional framework for coordination and accountability, which was hitherto lacking, and is expected to facilitate collection of accurate data, identification of deficiencies, and prompt redressal of gaps in implementation across jurisdictions – It is appropriate that National Law Universities entrusted with exercise under “Project Ability Empowerment”, in terms of directions issued by this Court, undertake detailed and structured assessment of implementation of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 across all States and Union Territories – Such monitoring shall not be merely formal but must involve substantive evaluation of compliance with statutory mandates, including creation of requisite institutional mechanisms, enforcement of rights, and accessibility measures – Directions issued. (Paras 14, 15 and 16)
Facts of the case:
Non-compliance by several States and Union Territories with directions issued in judgment dated 12th September, 2025, particularly concerning appointment of Nodal Officers. It was noted that despite lapse of seven months, multiple States and Union Territories had failed to act, thereby impeding effective functioning of National Law Universities in discharge of mandate of this Court and undermining implementation of statutory mandates affecting vulnerable sections of the society. Expressing serious displeasure at such inaction, this Court granted a final opportunity to defaulting States and Union Territories to ensure compliance before next date of hearing, failing which senior officials, including Chief Secretaries and concerned departmental Secretaries, were directed to remain personally present with affidavits explaining delay.
Findings of Court:
A copy of this order shall be transmitted to Registrar of each of eight National Law Universities as mentioned in paragraph 36 of judgment and order dated 12th September, 2025, as well as to Secretary, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Union of India and Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories, for immediate compliance.
Result : Directions issued.

Table of Content
1. prompt appointment of nodal officers by states/uts mandated (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 , 7)
2. meritorious pwbd candidates adjusted against unreserved vacancies (Para 8 , 9 , 10)
3. nlus to monitor rpwd act 2016 implementation statewide (Para 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18)

ORDER :

1. This Court, vide order dated 15th April, 2026, recorded submissions advanced by Mr. Colin Gonsalves, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 11938 of 2016 regarding non-compliance by several States and Union Territories with the directions issued in the judgment dated 12th September, 2025, particularly concerning the appointment of Nodal Officers. It was noted that despite the lapse of seven months, multiple States and Union Territories ¹[ States of Kerala, Jharkhand, Odisha, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, as well as the Union Territories of Puducherry, Lakshadweep Islands, Ladakh, Delhi, Chandigarh, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.] had failed to act, thereby impeding the effective functioning of National Law Universities in discharge of the mandate of this Court and undermining the implementation of statutory mandates affecting vulnerable sections of the society. Expressing serious displeasure at such inaction, this Court granted a final opportunity to the defaulting States and Union Territories to ensure compliance before the next date of hearing, failing which senior officials, including Chief Secretaries and concerned departmental Secretaries, were directed to remain personally present with affidavits explaining the delay.

2. Further, this Court took note of the submissions advanced by learned counsel appearing for the petitioner in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 116 of 1998 concerning the broader implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and granted time to the counsel for petitioner to file a status report. The Court also expressed concern over the continued failure of the Union of India to respond to a specific query raised in paragraph 53 of the judgment dated 12th September, 2025, relating to the provision of upward movement of meritorious candidates in reserved categories. Noting the lack of response/representation on behalf of the Union of India, the Court granted a final opportunity to file the requisite response before the next date of hearing. The matter was accordingly directed to be listed on 28th April, 2026 for further consideration. For ready reference, the relevant portion of the said order is extracted hereinbelow: -

2. It has been brought to the notice of this Court that the States of Kerala, Jharkhand, Odisha, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, as well as the Union Territories of Puducherry, Lakshadweep Islands, Ladakh, Delhi, Chandigarh, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, have not appointed Nodal Officers even after a lapse of seven months from the date of the aforesaid judgment.

3. We express our serious displeasure at the lackadaisical and indifferent approach displayed by the aforesaid States and Union Territories in complying with the directions of this Court. The directions issued pertain to a matter of considerable sensitivity and significance, impacting the effective implementation of statutory mandates and the rights of vulnerable sections of the society. Such continued inaction not only undermines the authority of this Court but also defeats the ve