Bhubaneswar: Concerned over rising cases of persons with disabilities (PwDs) being deprived of land and property through fraud, coercion and unlawful occupation, the Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) department has urged the revenue department to examine the feasibility of issuing comprehensive guidelines to all revenue authorities to safeguard their property and inheritance rights.In a letter to Arabinda Kumar Padhee, additional chief secretary of revenue department, SSEPD secretary Suresh Kumar Vashishth highlighted provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, which mandate protection of the rights, legal capacity, property and interests of persons with disabilities and require the state to prevent abuse, violence, exploitation and discrimination against them.Vashishth stated that many persons with disabilities are vulnerable to unlawful deprivation of their paternal, ancestral, inherited and self-acquired properties because of physical, sensory, intellectual or psychosocial disabilities. Several cases have come to the SSEPD department’s notice where PwDs were allegedly coerced, deceived or unduly influenced into transferring immovable properties or denied their legitimate inheritance rights.“In some instances, their plots were reportedly occupied, cultivated or alienated illegally by others, resulting in economic exploitation and violation of their constitutional and legal rights,” the letter said.Referring to the constitutional guarantee of equality before law and equal protection of laws, the department said the RPwD Act requires the state to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others and are provided safeguards against abuse, exploitation and undue influence in matters relating to person and property.The SSEPD department has suggested a series of measures for incorporation in the proposed guidelines. These include establishing a regulatory mechanism to protect inherited, ancestral and self-acquired immovable properties of PwDs and introducing mandatory scrutiny by competent revenue authorities in cases where property transfers involving persons with disabilities appear to have been executed through coercion, fraud, misrepresentation or exploitation of their disability condition.It also recommended speedy inquiries by district collectors or other competent authorities into complaints related to illegal occupation, encroachment, cultivation, mutation or alienation of land belonging to persons with disabilities. The department further proposed safeguards to enable authorities or courts to declare such transactions void or voidable under applicable laws and restore possession and revenue records in favour of the rightful owner or lawful heirs.The department requested issuance of executive instructions to collectors, sub-collectors and tahasildars to exercise heightened vigilance and ensure timely intervention whenever cases of exploitation or unlawful deprivation of property are reported.Stating that the proposed measures would strengthen implementation of the RPwD Act, uphold the constitutional guarantee of equality and dignity, and protect one of the most vulnerable sections of society, the SSEPD department asked the revenue and disaster management department to examine the matter and issue suitable guidelines to all revenue authorities across the state.
