Pune: The state govt has brought in new rules empowering its departments to flag "suspicious" disability certificates issued to employees and appeal to the designated authority for a reassessment of their disability status. The Maharashtra State Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules 2024, notified earlier this month, have come into force nearly nine years after parliament enacted the Right of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act in 2016. Officials from the state disability department told TOI on Friday that the govt had taken this step in the aftermath of the row involving controversial former probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar.
The rules have been carefully crafted to address complaints of fraudulently obtained disability certificates being used to get govt positions, state disability commissioner Pravin Puri said. He said, "The rules have specified the checks, after questions were raised about the certificates issued to Khedkar. The rules give authorities the power to question suspected certificates, and also allow applicants to challenge the rejection of documents before an appellate authority.
" Disability rights organisations have pointed out that for any Act to be fully operative, both the Central and state govts must notify the associated rules promptly. "The Act stipulates that all state govts must notify the rules within six months from the date of its enactment. The Centre did it within the prescribed period, and the RPwD Act came into effect in April 2017.
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