HC asks Centre: Are petrol pumps being allocated to disabled?

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Centre whether allocation of petrol pumps to disabled persons was being done in accordance with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

Justice Prathiba M Singh issued notice to the ministries of Petroleum and Social Justice and state-run oil company Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) seeking their stand on a plea for creation of reservation for disabled persons in allotment of petrol retail outlets or dealerships according to the 2016 Act. The plea by a woman, who suffers from 75 per cent visual impairment, has contended that HPCL was still following the older repealed Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995 for allotment of dealerships.

In her petition, filed through advocate Sanjay Kumar Singh, the woman has challenged a December 2020 order of the office of the Chief Commissioner, set up under Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which did not find any fault in HPCL's scheme or manner of allotment of retail outlets for disabled persons indicated in its November 2018 advertisement.

The Chief Commissioner, while finding no fault with the allotment scheme, also suggested to HPCL to revise its policy in line with the 2016 Act instead of basing it on the repealed statute, the petition has claimed. The plea has also sought setting aside of the allotment made pursuant to the 2018 advertisement on grounds that it was based on the repealed Act.

"The percentage of reservation for the physically handicapped category practised by the respondent company on the basis of the advertisement brought out by it dated November 25, 2018 is not what it is required to be," the plea has contended.

The woman has claimed that she had applied for a dealership in 2018 and whenever she enquired about the status of her application, she was told that the selection process was underway.