Has National Fund for Persons with Disabilities been set up? Delhi High Court asks Centre

The Delhi High Court has directed the Central government to file an affidavit stating whether the National Fund for Persons with Disabilities has been set up and how much money has been allocated to it (Utkarsh Indrajit Pawar v. UOI)..The Central government has been specifically asked to state whether any amount has been allocated for Duchene Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)..A Single Judge Bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh sought the Centre's response while dealing with petitions concerning children suffering from rare diseases such as DMD..The order was passed after counsel for the petitioner, Advocate Ashok Agarwal, informed the Court that DMD was a recognised form of disability under the Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016..Section 86 of the Act also provided for the creation of a National Fund for Persons with Disabilities, it was said. .The matter will be heard next on May 20..While dealing with the same petitions, the Court had earlier directed the Central government to finalise and notify the National Health Policy for Rare Diseases on or before March 31, 2021. It had also directed the setting up of the National Consortium for Research, Development and Therapeutics for Rare Diseases, a Rare Diseases Committee as well as a Rare Diseases Fund, for treatment and indigenisation of treatment for rare diseases..[BREAKING] Delhi High Court sets up Rare Diseases Committee and Fund; directs notification of National Policy for Rare Diseases.Pursuant to the order, the Centre filed a compliance affidavit informing the Court that The National Policy for Rare Disease Policy (NPRD), 2021 was notified on March 30, 2021..It further said that the budget estimate for 2021-22 was to the tune of Rs 25 crore, which could be enhanced based on utilisation..The Centre inter alia added that the option of crowd funding had also been accepted to provide supplementary funding resources, and that approval for new products in the rare disease category would be provided by the Drugs Controller General of India under the New Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules, 2019..[Read order]