Mumbai hc mulls special masks for disabled

The Bombay High Court recently remarked that with the coronavirus pandemic here to stay, how will those with hearing and speech disability be recognised with their masks. On March 24, a

division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Lokshahivadi Balasaheb Sarode Smruti Prabodhan

Upakram in Pune through advocate Ajinkya Udane. The petition said since wearing masks had been made mandatory and fines were being imposed on those violating the order, “the PIL requests for

a uniformity of fines, accountability and transparency in the use of such collected funds”. The petitioners also sought that the government provide masks free of cost to those who cannot

afford to buy them and said, “the huge amounts collected by [way of fines] shall be utilised in providing stickers for the deaf and mute people on their masks so to help them in better

communication and identification”. Advocate Asim Sarode also appearing for the NGO informed the court that various authorities like the police, municipal corporation, nagar parishad and even

solid waste management committees are collecting fines ranging from ₹100 to ₹1,000 and crores of rupees have been collected in the form of fines. He urged the bench to pass a direction for

all government authorities to submit before the court the total amount collected as fines. He said when the authorities impose fines on people for not wearing masks at public places they

should also immediately provide them with masks. Citing the seminal book _Everybody loves good drought_ by renowned journalist P. Sainath, Mr Sarode said the government seems to be

exploiting the pandemic situation to mint money. The court then remarked, “The pandemic is here to stay. We have completely forgotten that there should be some special mask for these

persons. How would you otherwise recognise them?” The court directed the State government to file its reply in the plea and posted the matter to be heard next week. Published - March 29,

2021 05:31 pm IST Read Comments Remove SEE ALL PRINT