Bengaluru: A person with disabilities cannot claim the allotment of a site from a Development Authority only because he qualifies as a person with disabilities, Karnataka High Court has ruled in a recent judgement.Under the Karnataka Urban Development Authorities (KUDA) Act read with the KUDA Rules, he must apply for it, in the prescribed form and in answer to a notification calling for applications. Registration on payment of Rs 600 is not an application, Justice Suraj Govindaraj has observed in his order while allowing a petition filed by Mandya Urban Development Authority (MUDA).In 2013, one P Chandrashekar, a resident of Kirugaval, Malavalli taluk, had approached the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities seeking a direction to allot a site to him on the ground that he is a person with disabilities in the layout formed by MUDA comprising about 2,100 sites in Vivekananda Nagar layout.On August 8, 2013, the State Commissioner for PWDs directed MUDA to allot him a site, pointing out that they are required to reserve 3% of the sites of the total sites for persons with disabilities. MUDA had challenged the said direction in 2015 and the same was pending.After perusing the materials on record, Justice Govindaraj noted that though Section 37(c) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 provides for 5% reservation, it requires the appropriate Government and the local authorities to issue notifications, making schemes in favour of persons with benchmark disabilities.Since the notification providing reservation has been issued only on April 18, 2026, it operates from that date, the judge added.Citing the language employed in the rules, the judge noted that a person registered as a PWD has to apply for the site with the initial deposit, and the application must reach the Authority before the date and time fixed.The payment of Rs 600 by the petitioner on August 22, 2007, was merely registration with MUDA and not an application for allotment as it was not made in answer to any notice, because there was none, the judge further added while quashing the order passed by the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities.Justice Govindaraj has, however, reserved liberty to Chandrashekar to apply for allotment as and when a notification is issued for such allotment by MUDA.
