No legal framework on persons with disabilities using service animals: Centre to HC
The Hindu
Delhi High Court discusses guidelines for service animals by persons with disabilities in India, involving stakeholders for consultation.
The Centre has informed the Delhi High Court that there was no legal framework for utilising service animals by persons with disabilities and framing guidelines on it required extensive consultations among stakeholders, including ministries.
The court was informed on February 12 that a meeting was held on February 4 to deliberate upon framing guidelines for use of service animals by persons with disabilities in India.
Whether or not trained animals are safe to be allowed in public transport was also deliberated upon in the meeting held by the Centre’s Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD). The department said training service animals was essential before the persons with disabilities took their assistance.
Centre’s standing counsel Rajesh Gogna, representing the department, said it was for the first time that service animals were going to be used for PwDs in India and urged the court to grant some more time for having consultations with different stakeholders.
Counsel for the petitioner NGO Dhananjay Sanjogta Foundation, Rahul Bajaj, who is visually challenged, perused the status report and said it did not specify how much time it would take to frame the guidelines and that PwDs were not involved in the committee to deliberate on the issue.
The Centre’s counsel assured the court that PwDs would be included in the committee during the meetings.
On the issue of protecting vulnerable groups from attacks by stray animals, the court said the Delhi government had not filed its status report yet and granted it four weeks.
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