JUDGMENT

P.B.Suresh Kumar, J.

“It is an alarming reality that the disabled people are out of job not because their disability comes in the way of their functioning rather it is social and practical barriers that prevent them from joining the workforce”, observed the Apex Court in Union of India v. National Federation of the Blind, (2013) 10 SCC 772, in the context of delay on the part of the authorities in giving effect to the provisions contained in the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, hereinafter referred to as “the 1995 Act”.

The said observation is proven to be correct by the facts of these cases arising from the decision of the State Government to extend the provisions of the 1995 Act and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, hereinafter referred to as the “2016 Act” which replaced the 1995 Act, to schools receiving aid from the State Government (aided schools). The task of this Court, therefore, is to consider the ways and means to remove the social and practical barriers that prevent people with disabilities from joining the workforce in aided schools. It was also observed by the Apex Court in