A writ petition has already been filed in Aurangabad bench of the High Court in June by Prerna Apang Seva Sanghtana, an NGO working in the disability sector.

Activist W N Tungar from Pune, who helped the organisation file the petition told The Indian Express, that in Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan, the commissioners who were working in the disability sector were appointed. However, in the State, IAS officers who do not have any such background have been appointed.

The State needs to adopt a similar approach, he said. There are 15.70 lakh disabled people in the State as per the 2001 census.

The petition says that key areas and schemes for special schools for the disabled and committees to be appointed to implement the provisions are hardly met with. The petitioner has also pointed out that there is a huge pendency of cases.

“The commissioner is supposed to submit his report to the State assembly. In the last three years there has been no report,’’ said Tungar. He even points out the lack of implementation of the 3 per cent job reservation. The petitioner has also contented that the “absence of a skilled person as commissioner is to make sure that the funds allocated do not reach the sector.’’

The petitioner’s lawyer Parag Bade said the bench has said that it will take the commissioner for disabled as a respondent and also keep ready a list of other liable persons. “The matter will come up by the end of this month,’’ he said.

Activist Samir Ghosh said there is not enough support from other departments to comply with the law. “There is no coordination from other departments and there is very poor awareness of the law. If other states can enforce the law in a better manner by having activists, Maharashtra too can follow,’’ he said.