SC pulls up govt for not following order on making places disabled-friendly

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre over non-compliance of its last year's verdict on providing safe access to transportation, buildings and public places to differently-abled persons and said that the government has to follow the law and its order.

The top court had on December 15 last year said that the right to dignity, which is ensured in the constitutional set up for every citizen, applies with much more vigour in cases of persons suffering from disability and it was the duty of the state and public authorities to lay down proper norms in this regard, reports PTI.

It also expressed annoyance over the states not complying with its order and warned that respective chief secretaries will be summoned to explain the delay.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan asked the Centre to file a detailed reply in four weeks on the steps taken so far and the timeline to comply with the direction of the court.

"Everything we said in the judgement of December 15, 2017, already existed in the statute. It is not something which is a creation of court. It was your (Centre) law and we just asked you to comply with it. It is your job.

"The government has to tell us the deadline for complying with the directions of the court. We are not running the government. You have to comply with the directions and the law," the bench said.