HC Declines To Interfere With Indian Railways’ Plan To Issue Unique ID Cards For Disabled

The Delhi High Court declined to challenge the Indian Railway’s decision to offer special ID cards to those with disabilities in order to receive a concession rather than the government-issued Unique Disability Identity (UDID) Card.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, while closing the proceedings on a PIL on the issue, noted that a policy decision was taken by Railways to issue a “Photo Identity Card” for disabled persons on the basis of disability certificates for purchase of concessional tickets and to ensure that they are not required to submit disability certificates whenever they buy a ticket.

The bench, also comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad, said the procedure adopted by the Railways was fair and transparent and ordered, “This Court does not find any reason to interfere with the circular dated 19.03.2015 (introducing the photo identity card) issued by the Railways and, therefore, no further orders are required to be passed in the present PIL.”

“In the considered opinion of this Court, the procedure adopted by the Railways is a fair and transparent procedure and in fact, the circular dated 19.03.2015 has been issued by the Railways to ensure that a disabled person is not required to show the disability certificate every time while buying a ticket,” it said in a recent order.

In a PIL filed in 2019, the NGO National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) argued that the Rights of Persons with Disability Act (RPWD Act) supersedes the Railway Ministry’s 2015 circular, but Indian Railways was still moving forward with the issuance of separate identity cards for disabled people seeking to use railway concessions.

Instead of issuing a new identity card, it had asked for guidance to the Railways to confirm the UDID cards.

In its ruling, the court stated that as a welfare measure, the railways offered fee concessions to more than 50 categories of passengers, including four Divyang passenger groups, 11 different patient categories, senior citizens, press reporters, war widows, athletes, etc.

Additionally,

It was noted that the “Photo Identity Card” was being issued by the Railways on the basis that the disability certificate provided under the RPWD Act to confirm a disability was valid throughout India.

“The Railways has issued a circular dated 19.03.2015 and in order to ensure that disabled persons are not required to submit their disability certificate each and every time while buying a ticket, a policy decision has been taken by the Railways to issue a Photo Identity Card for the purpose of purchase of tickets and the Photo Identity Card is issued on the basis of certificate of disability issued under Section 58 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016,” the court said.

The petitioner had argued that the 2015 circular of the Railway Ministry not only violated Article 14 of the Constitution, but also impairs and encroaches upon the other fundamental rights of the disabled and creates barriers in the way that the disabled can enjoy amenities of life.

The plea had said that the UDID cards issued by the Ministry of Social Justice under the RPWD Act, 2016, was valid for all purposes, including availing railway concessions.

The petition had said the idea behind issuance of UDID cards was to “encourage transparency, efficiency and ease of delivering government benefits to person with disabilities” and also “ensure uniformity”.

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