No of representations received by the Association that the Provision of reservation meant for the disabled persons are being misused. GO which regultes the issue of genuine medical / handicapped certificate is published below for information

GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH
A B S T R A C T
W.D.C.W. & D.W. Department – Procedure and Format for issue of
Physically Handicapped Certificates - Producing of false certificates in claim
of reservation under Physically Handicapped Quota - Action to be taken -
Orders – Issued.
===========================================================
WOMEN DEV.CHILD WELFARE & DISABLED WELFARE DEPT
G.O.Ms.No. 22                                                                                            Dt 07 –7-2008
Read the following-
1. G.O.Ms.No.115, WDCW&L Deptt.dt.30-7-1991.
2. G.,O.Rt.No.109, WDCW&L Deptt.dt.15-6-1992.
3. G.O.Ms.No.21, WDCW&DW Deptt., dt.23-3-1998.
O R D E R:-
In the G.O. 1st read above orders were issued reserving 3% of the
posts in the State and Subordinate Services in favour of Physically
Handicapped persons for the purpose of reservation of employment on the
basis of uniform definitions followed by the Government of India for each
category as indicated hereunder:-
1. Visually Handicapped 1%
2. Hearing Handicapped 1%
3. Orthopaedically Handicapped 1%
2. Some of the claimants are producing false certificates to seek the benefit
under 3% reserved Physically Handicapped Quota for the purpose of
reservation in employment, resulting in denial of the benefit to the genuinely
disabled persons apart from injustice to the meritorious open category
candidates and entailing increased and unnecessary workload for specialists
in government hospitals which are already over burdened, by having to
cross check such cases. Most of the bogus cases are from Hearing and Speech
impaired category. For example, of the 136 candidates who applied for
Teachers posts in Chittoor district under hearing impaired category, only 52
candidates reported to ENT Hospital for verification, of these 52 candidates
screened at ENT Hospital, Hyderabad, only one candidate was found to be
hearing impaired having 75% disability.
3. To avoid such malpractices and after examining the matter,
Government hereby issue orders as follows:-
(i) All those who attempt to seek employment on the basis of false
certificate i.e. certificates obtained by misrepresentation/
clandestine manner, etc which tantamounts to cheating, shall be
debarred from Government employment for a period of 5 years..
(iii) Those who fraudulently avail or tempt to avail, any benefit
meant for persons with disabilities, shall be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or
with fine which may extend to twenty thousand rupees or with
both, as prescribed under section 69 of the PWD Act, 1995.
(iv) All the Heads of Departments shall refer all the cases
appointed under the Hearing Handicapped category where
certificates are suspect, to State Appellate Authority at Govt.
ENT Hospital, Koti, Hyderabad for verification of
genuineness of the Hearing handicapped and Visually
Handicapped candidates to the Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital,
Masab Tank, Hyderabad wherever warranted and take
effective follow up action including for prosecution and
removal from service wherever warranted following the due
procedure.
…2…
…2..
(v) In partial modification of the orders issued vide references
G.O.2nd read above, Hearing and Speech impaired certificates
shall not be issued unless a qualified regular audiologist from
a Government Hospital is present on the Medical
Board.
(vi) The certificates in respect of Mentally Retarded persons
issued by the National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped,
Manovikasnagar, Secunderabad shall be accepted.
(vii) Issue of Handicapped Certificates, without proper verification
shall entail stringent action against all concerned. The
certificates in respect of Mentally Retarded persons issued by
the National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped,
Manovikasnagar, Secunderabad shall be accepted.
4. All the Heads of Departments/District Collectors/Officers/Members of
Medical Board and others concerned are directed to strictly follow the above
instructions .
.5. The Commissioner, Department for the Welfare of Disabled and
Senior Citizens, Hyderabad shall follow up the matter accordingly.
(BY ORDER AND IN THE NAME OF THE GOVERNOR OF ANDHRA PRADESH)
                                M.CHAYA RATAN,
                     PRL.SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT
To
The Commissioner, Dept. for the Welfare of Disabled and Senior
Citizens, Hyd
All the Heads of Departments
All the Departments in Secretariat,
All the District Collectors in the State.
The Director, Health, Hyderabad.
All the Superintendents / Government Teaching Hospitals/
District Headquarter Hospitals and Area Hospitals in the State.
All the Asst.Directors, Dept. for the Welfare of Disabled
and Senior Citizens in the State.
Copy to:
Superintendent, Govt. ENT Hospital, Koti, Hyd.
Superintendent, Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Masab Tank, Hyd.
Director, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Punjagutta,
Hyderabad.
Superintendent, Institute of Mental Health, Erragadda, Hyderabad.
Director, National Institute for the Mentally Health, Manovikasnagar,
Secunderabad-500 009.
OSD to M(WDCW&DW)
P.S. to Chief Secretary
P.S. to Prl.Secretary to C.M.
P.S. to Prl.Secretary, WDCW&DW
S.F./S.Cs.
//forwarded::by order//
SECTION OFFICER

GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

ABSTRACT

Women Development, Child Welfare and Disabled Welfare Department - Persons with Disabilities - Guidelines for evaluation of various disabilities and procedure for certification – Comprehensive Orders – Issued.

WOMEN DEVELOPMENT, CHILD WELFARE & DISABLED WELFARE (DW) DEPARTMENT

                                                                    

G.O.Ms.No.31                                                                     Dated.01-12-2009.     

                                                                             Read the following:

         

1. G.O.Rt.No.109, WD CW & L (WH.Desk)            Dept.Dt:15.06.1992.

2. G.O.Ms.No.21, WD & CW (WH) Dept. Dated 23.03.1998.

3. G.O.Ms.No.41, WD CW & DW Dept. Dated 9.06.1998

4. G.O.Ms.No.27, WD CW & DW (DW)Dept. Dated 09.08.2000

5. Govt. Memo .No.10195/DW.A2/2002,WD, CW & DW 

    Dept. dated 18.11.2002

6. G.O.Ms.No.56, WDCW & DW (DW) Dept. dt.2.12.2002

7. G.O.Ms.No.22, WD CW and DW Dept. Dated 7.7.2008.

8. The Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995

9. Guidelines for evaluation of various disabilities issued by Government of India in 2001 and 2002.

10. G.O.Ms.No.115, WD CW & L (WH.Desk) Dept., Dated: 30.07.1991.

***

O R D E R:-

In the G.Os. 1^st to 7^th read above, orders were issued by the Government on constitution of Medical Boards, Assessment of disabilities, Constitution of Appellate Medical Boards, percentage of disability for facilities, concessions and benefits and action for producing of false certificates in claim of reservation etc.

2.    The Government of India had enacted the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Right and Full Participation) Act, 1995 and the Act came into force in Andhra Pradesh on 7.2.1996.  Keeping in view the enactment of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 with Rules notified by Government of Andhra Pradesh and Government of India guidelines on evaluation of various disabilities and procedure for certification issued in 2001 and 2002 and superseding the orders issued from 1^st to 7^th read above, Government hereby issues the following comprehensive orders:

I.  Definition of Disabilities:-

The following definitions mentioned in the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation)  Act, 1995 and the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 are adopted:

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          Disability therefore includes:-

(i)     blindness;

(ii)  low vision;

(iii)    leprosy cured;

(iv)  hearing impairment;

(v)     locomotor disability;

(vi)  mental Retardation;

(vii)   mental Illness  

a)     Blindness refers to a condition where a person suffers from any of the following conditions, namely:-

(i)    total absence of sight; or

(ii)     visual acuity not exceeding 6/60 or 20/200 (snellen) in the    better     eye with correcting lenses; or

(iii)    limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of 20   degree or worse;

b)     Person with Low vision means a person with impairment of visual functioning even after treatment or standard refractive correction but who uses or is potentially capable of using vision for the planning or execution of a task with appropriate assistive device i.e., a person with impairment of vision of less than 6/18 to 6/60 with best correction in the better eye or impairment of field in any of the following categories:

(i)      Reduction of fields less than 50 degrees

(ii)  Heminaopia with  macular involvement

(iii)     Attitudinal defect involving lower fields

c)      Leprosy cured person means a person who has been cured of leprosy, but is suffering from not less than 40% of disability as follows:-

(i)           loss of sensation in hands or feet as well a loss of sensation and paresis in the eye and eye lid but with no manifest deformity;

(ii)        manifest deformity and paresis but having sufficient mobility in their hands and feet to enable them to engage in normal economic activity;

iii)   extreme physical deformity as well as advanced age         which prevents him from undertaking any gainful occupation; and the expression “Leprosy cured” shall be construed accordingly;

(iv) The “Leprosy Cured” persons generally become “Locomotor Disabled” and the Medical Certificate may, in such cases have to be  issued under the category of Locomotor Disability.

d)     Hearing impairment means loss of sixty decibles or more in the better ear in the conversational range of frequencies.

e)     Locomotor disability means disability of the bones, joints or muscles leading to substantial restrictions of the movement of the limbs which includes Dwarfs, persons with Hunch back, leprosy cured persons, persons suffering from Muscular Dystrophy or any form of Cerebral palsy.

f)       Cerebral Palsy means a group of non progressive conditions of a person characterized by abnormal motor control posture resulting from brain insult or injuries occurring in the pre-natal, peri-natal or infant period of development.

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g)     Mental retardation means a condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person which is specially characterized by sub-normality of intelligence.

Categorization of Mental Retardation

Category	I Q	Percentage of    Disability
i) Mild	50 – 69	50%
ii) Moderate	35 – 49	75%
iii) Severe	20 – 34	90%
iv) Profound	Less than 20	100%

h)        Mental illness means any mental disorder other than mental retardation.

Categories of Mental Illness

Category	Global Disability Score (Total Disability Score + DOI Score)	Percentage of Disability
Moderate	7-13	40-70%
Severe	14-19	71-99%
Profound	20	100%

i)          Multiple disabilities means a combination of two or more disabilities as defined in Clause (i) of Section 2 of the Persons with Disabilities Act 1995 Act.

j)          Autism means a condition of uneven skill development primarily affecting the communication and social abilities of a person, marked by repetitive and ritualistic behaviors;

3.     Person with disability means a person suffering from not less than forty percent of any disability as certified by a medical authority except Hearing Impairment. Hearing Impairment means loss of sixty decibles or more in the better ear in the conversational range of frequencies which corresponds to 85 dBs Hearing threshold on the audiogram in the better ear i.e., 85 dB hearing level in audiogram – 25 dB upper limit of normal hearing = 60 dB hearing loss as per  provision under “Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995”.

 II. Evaluation and Issue of Disability Certificate:

i)  The guidelines for evaluation of various disabilities and procedure for certification issued by the government of India in the 9^th read above shall be followed (Annexure-I).

ii)  The Government hereby constitute the Medical Boards consisting of three members, of whom atleast one shall be a specialist/s in the particular field for assessing the disability / disabilities.

iii)  An Audiologist with M.Sc. (Speech & Hearing / Audiology Language and Speech Pathology {ASLP} or Equivalent) qualification having registration with Rehabilitation Council of India should be  part of the Medical Board for issuing hearing disability certificates.

iv) All the District Headquarters Hospitals /Government Teaching Hospitals  are hereby notified as District Medical Boards and authorized to give certificates for persons with disabilities. 

v)  Whenever required the Chairman of the Medical Board may co-opt other Experts/Specialists in addition to members comprising in the Medical Board.

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vi)  Further, the Superintendent is authorized to nominate one of the Members in the Medical Board as his nominee to act as Chairman of the Medical Board.

vii) Specified test as indicated in Annexure-I should be conducted by the Medical Board and recorded before certificate is issued.

viii) The certificate would be valid for a period of five years or for such period as may be specified  for those whose disability is temporary.  For those who acquire permanent disability, the validity can be shown as permanent.  The specimen copy of the disability certificate is enclosed (Annexure-II)

ix)  All the records pertaining to the assessment shall be kept in the custody of the concerned Superintendent of the Hospitals.

x)  On representation by the applicant, the Medical Board may review the decision having regard to all the facts and circumstances of the case and pass such order in the matter as it thinks fit within 20 days from the date of receipt of the application.

xi) All the persons with disabilities shall be assessed afresh regarding percentage of disability. All the existing certificates shall be replaced by re-assessing the persons with disabilities by the concerned District Medical Board as per the new guidelines to be issued separately by Rural Development Department.  For this purpose, the District Collector in consultation with the Superintendent, District Headquarters Hospitals and Superintendent of Teaching Hospitals are authorized to constitute required Medical Boards within the district.  The old certificates shall become invalid after completion of the reassessment and issue of certificates afresh.

xii) After completion of the assessment of the degree of disability of all the persons with disabilities in camp mode as per new guidelines, the Medical Boards shall meet atleast once in a fort-night in order to assess and issue Medical Board Certificates to new cases and left over persons with disabilities.

(xiii) In case of loss of certificate, the concerned person with disabilities shall apply to the concerned Superintendent, District Headquarters Hospitals/Teaching Hospitals along with F.I.R. and non traceable certificate issued by the concerned police.  The Medical Board after due assessment shall issue a Medical Board Certificate within 20 days from the date of receipt of the application.

III. Appellate Authority:-

i)    Government hereby constitutes State Appellate Medical authorities in the State to resolve the disputes regarding the degree of disability.  The State Appellate Medical authority shall consist of the following persons:-

   a)    Superintendent of the Institution Hospital : Chairman

   b)    Head of the department of concerned disability in Hospital/Institution

             c)    Expert in the specified field of handicapped i.e., ophthalmologist in the case of Visually Handicapped; ENT surgeon in the case of speech and Hearing Handicapped; Orthopaedic surgeon in the case of Orthopaedically Handicapped; Clinical Psychologist / Psychiatrist /Paediatrician; in the field of Mentally Handicapped; Psychiatrist in case of Mental illness whenever required.(to be nominated by the Chairman, Medical Board)

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ii) Disability wise Appellate Medical Boards are constituted as under:

a) Orthopaedically Handicapped/ Locomotor Disability/Leprosy cured/Dwarf/ Hunchback/ Mascular Dystrophy	Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad./ Gandhi Hospital, Hyderabad
b)     Blindness/ Low vision	Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Hyderabad.
c) Mental Retardation	Institute of Mental Health, Hyderabad / National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped
d) Mental Illness	State Institute of Mental Health, Hyderabad
e) Hearing Impairment	Govt. ENT Hospital, Koti, Hyderabad.

iii) The Chairman, Appellate Medical authority may co-opt other experts      whenever required.

iv) The Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family  Welfare will be the final authority, should there arise any confusion  / doubt  regarding the interpretation of the definition / classification / evaluation  lists etc.

IV.Action for fraudulently availing any benefit meant for Persons With    Disabilities:-

(i)     It has been represented to the Government that some normal persons are being appointed to various posts based on bogus medical certificates resulting in denial of the benefit to the genuinely disabled persons apart from injustice to the meritorious open category candidates.

(ii)  All the Heads of Departments, the District Collectors appointing authorities are therefore requested to carefully verify the Medical certificates produced by the individuals and verify the genuineness before allowing them to appear for selection tests etc. 

(iii)          All cases of Hearing Impaired shall necessarily be referred to ENT Hospital for confirmation before issue of appointment orders.

(iv)  Regarding doubtful cases of other categories they may be referred to the concerned State Appellate Medical Board for confirmation or otherwise of disability status, i.e.  Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Hyderabad for Visually Handicapped and Gandhi Hospital/Osmania Hospital, Hyderabad for Orthopaedically Handicapped.

(v)    Effective follow up action including prosecution/removal from service following the due procedure shall be taken in all cases of false claims based on fake/false  certificate etc.

(vi)  Those who fraudulently avail or attempt to avail any benefit meant for persons with disabilities, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to twenty thousand rupees or with both as prescribed under Section 69 of Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.

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(vii)   In addition  those who attempt to seek employment on the basis of false medical board certificate i.e., certificates obtained by misrepresentation /clandestine manner etc., which tantamount to cheating shall also be debarred from Government employment for  a period of  5 years.

(viii)  Issue of Handicapped Certificates to ineligible persons i.e. without   following prescribed procedure/proper evaluation shall entail stringent action against all concerned.

V) RESERVATION OF POSTS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES:

i)   Trifurcation of 3% reservation in favour of Physically Handicapped persons in so far as direct recruitment, subject to the condition that the categorization of the physically handicapped persons  for the purpose of reservation in consonance with Sec.33   of Persons With Disabilities  (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995  in employment,  shall be as under:

    Category of disability                          % of Reservation

1.   blindness or low vision                                   1%

2.   hearing impairment                                       1%

3.   locomotor disability or cerebral palsy                      1%.

ii)     If relevant factors governing recruitment are equal, preference in employment shall be given to the persons with disabilities having higher degree of disability.

4.       The General Administration (Services) Department may take necessary action for amendment of A.P. State and Subordinate Service Rules accordingly.

5.     The Commissioner, Department for the Welfare of Disabled and Senior Citizens is request to take necessary action accordingly.

6.       This G.O., annexure - I & II can be accessed from the website of http://goir.ap.gov.in.

 (BY ORDER AND IN THE NAME OF THE GOVERNOR OF ANDHRA PRADESH)

                                                      M.CHAYA RATAN

PRL. SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT