A wheel-chair bound professional chartered chemist and activist for disabled persons, Dr. Ajith C.S. Perera has gone to the Supreme Court against the 50 plus Ministers in the Cabinet in a Fundamental Rights application where he is calling for the implementation of the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act No. 28 of 1996 which provides for the rights of persons with disabilities.
Dr. Perera’s action comes up for hearing in the Supreme Court tomorrow (Monday).
He has stated that the National Council for Persons with Disabilities which is responsible for implementing this Act has faced a “practical impasse” due to the lack of an effective mechanism in providing access to disabled persons in the various Ministries, Government Departments and other related Government and State controlled buildings, including State banks and provincial and local council buildings.
 |
| Dr. Perera - the petitioner |
Supermarkets, shopping malls, restaurants, auditoriums, public toilets, art galleries, sports stadia and hotels where the public have access have been included in the long list of buildings which have ignored the rights of disabled persons and those with restricted mobility.
Dr. Perera’s petition to Court states that there are as many as three million Sri Lankans (or 16 % of the total population) falling into this category and are demanding their rights. He says that not only is the population rapidly ageing, but also that there are several Rana Viru soldiers coming under this class of persons who are rendered disabled having sacrificed their limbs for the security of the country.
He says these soldiers are those who use a crutch, wheelchair, artificial limb or a frame or stick and adds that their integration into society and productive use for society is the collective responsibility of the nation. There are also several older people afflicted with debilitating medical conditions, numerous illnesses and injury caused by accidents and disasters.
The petition filed by Sudath Perera Associates on behalf of Dr. Perera states that he is seeking redress for this large community of people as a public interest litigation case and calls for the ensuring of better standards of living for persons with disabilities, empowering them, redeeming their dignity, maximizing social integration and minimizing the need for dependants, among other factors.
Dr. Perera who suffered an accident when a falling tree paralyzed him for life, has cited the ‘Mahinda Chintanaya’ and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 2006 which Sri Lanka signed in New York the following year, in support of his action.
He says that there are no signs that the Government is moving towards the implementation of the regulations brought to introduce these measures in public buildings, and that there is a failure to implement these laws even in respect of new constructions coming up within the municipalities and other areas.
In his petition, Dr. Perera states that even five-star hotels in Colombo lack these facilities, and no foreign tourist, or local visitor will be comfortable in such a hotel. A member of the voluntary group, ‘Idiriya’ which looks into the interests of this large section of people, he says that the Superior Court Complex in Hulftdsorp, the Post Offices at Dehiwela and Mount Lavinia, the Taj Samudra Hotel and the Taj Airport Garden Hotel, the Computer Centre at the University of Colombo, the UDA at Battaramulla were among the buildings that obtained the group’s advice.
He says that places of religious worship should also have these facilities and adds that the Chief Ministers and Secretaries of Provincial Councils and local government councils be included in this exercise.
The petition seeks the intervention of the Court to put in place these regulations for what it calls is a “national problem”. He calls for the equal protection of the law for these persons as enshrined in the Constitution. |
E-mail