Delhi High Court issues notice in plea seeking issuance of Unique Disability ID

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice in a plea by a disabled person who was not granted a Unique Disability ID despite applying for the same four years ago (Amit Kumar Mit v. Union of India). .Notice was issued by a Bench of Justice Rekha Palli..The UDID Project was launched in 2016 by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities of the Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.The chief objective of the project was to create a national database for Persons with Disabilities (PwD) and to issue a Unique Disability Identity Card to such persons.The project was expected to improve the ease with which government benefits can be delivered uniformly to PwDs..It is the case of the petitioner that he had his disability certificate in the old format, but in compliance with 2016 project, he applied for UDID in 2017. However, till date there has been no progress in the issuance of UDID to him.By way of a Right to Information (RTI) reply, he was asked to approach the district medical authority. Through another RTI reply by Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital, he was further directed to contact the State Coordinator (UDID), New Delhi, who replied that they do not have any role in issuance of UDID."That till date he has not been issued his UDID, he has raised grievance with the Delhi Government, which says that the Union Government would do the needful and when he raises a grievance with the Union Government the reply is that it's the Delhi Government which has to perform. Amid the fight of the Union and the state this disabled person is being pestered," the plea stated..The petition also claimed that the non-issuance of the ID has caused severe mental pain and agony to him, as well as loss of finances and opportunities which he could have had availed after the issuance of UDID, the requirement of which is mandatory for availing benefits..He thus prayed for a direction to the respondents to ensure that his application for UDID is processed within a period of seven days and that he is granted the UDID with immediate effect.He also sought ₹ 10 lakh as compensation for the delay caused in the issuance of the UDID.