Key Issues and Recommendations on Disability Verification

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) addressed concerns regarding the re-verification of disability certificates for government employees with disabilities, highlighting potential human rights violations and suggesting improvements to current practices.

NHRC Chairperson's Recommendations

• Specific Suspicion: Scrutiny should be performed only in cases of specific suspicion, not as mass re-verifications.
• Legal Implications: Applying the revised SOP retrospectively to existing beneficiaries could lead to legal challenges.
• Potential Misuses: Concerns about deserving individuals not receiving benefits or potential misuse of beneficiary legislation.

NHRC Member Insights

• Repeated Verification Issues: Repeated disability re-verification induces anxiety, fear, and insecurity among employees, particularly concerning job stability.

NHRC Recommendations

• Prohibition of Mass Reassessment: Blanket or mass medical reassessment of employees with disabilities should be prohibited.
• UDID-Based Verification: The government should use UDID-based digital verification as the default method, with medical reassessment as an exception.
• Safeguards Implementation: Verification exercises should include safeguards like written reasons, opportunities to respond, time-bound decisions, clear rights to appeal, and protection from adverse actions.
• Dignity-Centered Protocols: Recommendations include providing reasonable accommodations, digital options, and exemptions from redundant testing for permanent disabilities.
• Certificate Reissuance: There should be no requirement to re-issue certificates for employees with irreversible disabilities.