Court imposes penalty on gym for discrimination
Guwahati: In a path-breaking judgement on making services accessible to persons with disabilities in the state, the Gauhati High Court has imposed penalties on a gym and the Assam government for discrimination against such a person.Gauhati High Court Judge Ujjal Bhuyan, last month, ordered a prominent gym here and the Assam government to pay Rs 50,000 each as penalty in a 2011 writ petition filed by Arman Ali, Executive Director of National Centre for Promotion of Employment of Disabled People (NCPEDP) against inaccessible, disabled-unfriendly services by the gym. According to the case history, Ali had applied for a membership with the gym in 2011. On realising his disability, the gym demanded as condition for membership doctors certificates from both his physician as well as an orthopedician. The gym also subjected him to a rigorous workout in an attempt to discourage him. “I was almost treated like an untouchable and they used all tactics to discourage me. The final straw was their offer of a month-long conditional membership with charges equivalent to an annual membership,” Ali said. This is one of the first writ petitions on disability discrimination against a private service provider giving public services and the respondents included the Union of India, chief commissioner, persons with disabilities along with the Assam government, Golds Gym and WARE and WANTS TRADING PVT (its Assam franchise), Ali claimed. (PTI)
EC orders FIR into cash recovery in Arunachal
New Delhi: Days after Rs 1.8 crore was recovered from two vehicles in Arunachal Pradesh, the Election Commission Sunday ordered poll authorities in the north eastern state to get an FIR lodged under a penal provision dealing with bribing voters. While one vehicle belonged to former MLA Dangi Perme, the other vehicle was registered in the name of a deputy secretary of state transport department. The money was recovered during raids by the Election Commission’s expenditure monitoring committee. In a letter to state chief electoral officer, the EC directed him to get an FIR registered under section 171 C and D of the Indian Penal Code dealing with bribing of voters. The state goes to Lok Sabha polls on April 11. (PTI)