Teachers Illegaly Using Disability Quota Benefits : Bangalore

Misuse of disability quota comes to light

DNA ,8 : June 2013  

 

The state commissioner for persons with disabilities, KV Rajanna, will shortly be writing to all the department heads, asking them for a list of those employees who are working in the government under the disability quota.

This comes in the back drop of a case in Kolar’s Chintamani taluk where 10 persons have been found to have been utilizing the disability quota while they have no disability at all!
 

At a press meet, Rajanna said a person from Chintamani wanted to find out the number of disabled people in the education department in the district, using the Right to Information act.

 
“After this report came to us, we called the 45 people who had been named in this RTI and found out that 10 of them were not blind, as had been mentioned. We also found that seven members who had taken the job on general quota had been utilising all the facilities of the disabled. They had been submitting false records and had been taking allowances meant for the disabled,” Rajanna said. 

 
Following this, the commissioner has recommended the case to the state’s appellate authority, which will then put these records under scrutiny and also call these suspicious candidates for health check-ups to ascertain the disability they have. Meanwhile, the department has also found that in the same district, three persons who have been disabled during service have been denied salaries for as long as three years. 

 
“One person, V Subramanya, had lost his vision while in service. Another person, Devraj, was paralysed and yet another person, Amarnath, was rendered mentally ill during their service periods. This came to light when we had gone to inspect the education department case. It is shocking to note that no one had the knowledge that employees who are disabled during service cannot be fired,” Rajanna said.

 
Department officials have also sent a circular, asking the department of education to re-imburse the salaries and other benefits to these three people. “This will include everything they have to rightfully receive. From the DDPI to the officials, no one seems to know the rules. We have given them orders to give them all counseling and treatment, apart from giving them their full salaries and increments if they have earned any,” Rajanna said.

The department has decided that since such cases are coming to light, it would be better to have a record of all those working in the government sector under the disability quota.

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'Teachers without disabilities misuse quota benefits' 

Deccan Herald ,  7th June 2013

As many as 18 teachers in Chintamani taluk, Chikkaballapur district, have been found to be misusing facilities provided under the disability quota.

Following an anonymous complaint about 45 teachers from the Education Department in Chintamani using facilities available under the quota, State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, K V Rajanna, visited the department on Wednesday and evaluated the physical and medical examination certification of 42 of the 45 teachers.

Of the remaining three teachers, one was on transfer, one had died and the other absent.

Of the 42 teachers, 11 of them who had no signs of disability had managed to get jobs under the disability quota. Seven others had got employment under the general quota.

It was found that after getting their jobs, these teachers had obtained medical certification from doctors saying they were disabled and are enjoying for the past 10 years facilities such as travel, income tax exemption among others, reserved for the disabled.

“We have decided to register both cases at the Commissioner’s Court and refer them to the Appellate Medical Authority for a second opinion,” Rajanna said at a press conference here on Friday.

During service

The commissioner said he also came across three teachers in the same taluk who had became disabled during their service.

V Subramanya, a teacher who lost his eyesight, neither got his salary for three years nor an alternative job. Similar are the cases of Devaraju, who suffered a paralytical stroke a year and a half ago, and Amarnath, a victim of mental illness for the past one year.

“Interestingly, none of the officials from either the Education Department or their associates knew that if a person was disabled while he/she is on the job, he/she was entitled to salary and or an alternative job,” Rajanna said.

If so many cases have sprung up in a single taluk, there is a possibility of similar cases in the remaining 175 taluks across the State, Rajanna said.

Medical certification

“Officers in the different departments at the state, district and taluk level should look into the medical certification of the disabled employees, and in case of doubt, they must get a second opinion from the Appellate Medical Authority,” he said.

State has fewer PH employees

The number of disabled employees working in the State is less compared with the neighbouring states, Rajanna said. “Approximately 7,000 to 8,000 disabled people are employed in the State. Whereas Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh among others have more than 30,000 persons with disabilities employed. The low number in Karnataka is disappointing.”

He said the Office of the State Commissioner for Disabilities will be shortly shifted to the Slum Development Board premises in  Seshadripuram.

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‘18 ineligible teachers enjoying disability benefits’ 

The Hindu , 8th June 2013

Cases now referred to State-level appellate authority

The office of the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities has found that at least 18 teachers of Chintamani taluk in Chickballapur district have been claiming disability benefits, though they are not eligible. These cases have now been referred to the State-level appellate authority. 

K.V. Rajanna, State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, told reporters here on Friday that his office had received an anonymous complaint against 45 teachers in Chintamani, who were reportedly claiming disability benefits, though they are not disabled.

After physical examination and verification of their medical records on June 5, for which 42 teachers appeared before the Deputy Commissioner — one teacher had passed away, one was transferred and one was absent; the commission found that 18 teachers were claiming benefits, though they were ineligible.

“As many as 11 teachers did not have any perceivable disability. Seven teachers, who were appointed under general quota, claimed to have developed disabilities. After producing fake medical certificates, they were claiming disability benefits, for more than 10 years,” he said.

 He said that the medical certificates were not from the competent medical board.

A case had been registered in connection with the Chintamani incident.

He said that the teachers association in Chintamani had brought to his notice the case of three teachers who developed some disability during service. However, after this, the education department had stopped paying their wage.

V. Subramanya lost vision three years ago, Devaraj suffered a paralytic stroke one-and-half years ago, and Amarnath developed mental illness a year ago.