The Kerala High Court came to the aid of a visually impaired law student by directing the Department of Empowerment of Persons With Disabilities as well as the Scholarships Department to not reject his scholarship application citing non-submission of UDID Card.

The Petitioner had filed the Writ Petition seeking a direction to the Respondent-Department to allow the Petitioner to complete his application in the NSP portal for the scholarship, on the basis of the Disability Certificate and Disability ID card, without insisting on automatic retrieval of data from UDID portal.

The Single-Judge Bench of Justice V.G.Arun took into consideration the Certificate of Disability issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh wherein disability of 75% has been identified as permanent and reassessment is not recommended.

Advocate Arun Thomas represented the Petitioner.

The Petitioner had also sought a direction from the Court to the Respondents to not reject his application for the non submission of UDID card, pending disposal of the Writ Petition.

“Being of the prima facie opinion that the petitioner should not be denied the benefits due to him for reasons which are not attributable to him, respondents 1 and 2 are directed not to reject the application submitted by the petitioner, citing non-submisison of the UDID Card”, the Bench held.

The High Court has now listed the matter on December 3, 2024.

Cause Title: Golla Madhu v. Department of Empowerment of Persons With Disabilities [Case No.- WP(C) No.42738/2024]

Appearance:

Petitioner: M/s.Shinto Mathew Abraham, Advocates Arun Thomas, Karthika Maria, Veena Raveendran, Anil Sebastian Pulickel, Mathew Nevin Thomas, Manasa Benny George, Karthik Rajagopal, Joe S. Adhikaram, Leah Rachel Ninan, Noel Ninan Ninan, Adeen Nazar, Aparnna S., Kurian Antony Mathew

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Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.