The Madras High Court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking direction to the respondents to strictly enforce Section 44 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 by issuing planning permission only after ensuring that the plan submitted for approval is compliant with the Harmonized guidelines and standards for Universal Accessibility in India, 2021.
The PIL has been filed by one Vaishnavi Jayakumar.
The Petitioner further sought direction that completion certificate should be issued only after inspection/access audit of the building to ensure that the building has been constructed in compliance with the Harmonized guidelines and standards for Universal Accessibility in India, 2021.
It is submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that without complying with the aforestated provisions, the building permission and the completion certificate are issued.
“We cannot entertain the petition in abstract. If any act is done contrary to the law, then the person has got the right to agitate. In case the permissions are granted in violation of law, it is open for the aggrieved person to agitate against the same. If the petitioner could lay her hands on such building permission and completion certificate, being issued without adhering to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and the Harmonized Guidelines and Standards for Universal Accessibility in India, 2021, then the petitioner can agitate in respect of the same”, observed by the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy.