BENGALURU: The award of LPG distributorships is essentially a commercial contract and the same cannot be termed as a notified scheme, attracting applicability of section 37 of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.
The
Karnataka high court has made this observation while rejecting a PIL filed by Karnataka
Rajya Vikalachetanara Rakshana Samithi.
Section 37 of Act mandates reservation of 5 per cent to persons with disabilities in any government notified scheme.
"We are satisfied that even if the award of LPG distributorships, which is essentially a matter of commercial contract, is a welfare measure and leads to manifold empowerment and all-round development of society, it cannot be termed as a notified scheme for poverty alleviation and development, to which section 37 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act may apply" a division bench headed by
Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari has observed.
The bench has added that even if an element of poverty alleviation is to be seen in such award of dealerships, that only refers to the consumers and not to the distributors.
The Samithi had challenged August 17, 2017 notification issued by three-state owned companies- Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited calling applications for the award of distributorships across 238 locations in the state.
The Samithi had contended that by application of section 5 of the rights of persons with Disabilities Act, at least 11 distributorships should have been reserved for disabled persons and the reservation of only 6 distributorships works out to less than 3 per cent.
It was also argued that the scheme is not merely a commercial contract but a developmental one as well as a welfare measure.
(Representative image)
