Abstract - PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES, PROTECTION OF RIGHTS & FULL PARTICIPATION) ACT, 1995* - Income-tax Act, 1961

SECTION 2 OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES, PROTECTION OF RIGHTS FULL PARTICIPATION) ACT, 1995* Definitions. 2. ** ** ** (a) appropriate Government means,- (i) in relation to the Central Government or any establishment wholly or substantially financed by that Government, or a Cantonment Board constituted under the Cantonment Act, 1924 (2 of 1924), the Central Government; (ii) in relation to a State Government or any establishment wholly or substantially financed by that Government, or any local authority, other than a Cantonment Board, the State Government; (iii) in respect of the Central Co-ordination Committee and the Central Executive Committee, the Central Government; (iv) in respect of the State Co-ordination Committee and the State Executive Committee, the State Government; (b) 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; ** ** ** (i) disability means- (i) blindness; (ii) low vision; (iii) leprosy-cured; (iv) hearing impairment; (v) locomotor disability; (vi) mental retardation; (vii) mental illness; ** ** ** (l) hearing impairment means loss of sixty decibels or more in the better ear in the conversational range of frequencies; ** ** ** (n) leprosy-cured person means any person who has been cured of leprosy but is suffering from- (i) loss of sensation in hands or feet as well as 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; (o) locomotor disability means disability of the bones, joints or muscles leading to substantial restriction of the movement of the limbs or any form of cerebral palsy; (p) medical authority means any hospital or institution specified for the purposes of this Act by notification by the appropriate Government; (q) mental illness means any mental disorder other than mental retardation; (r) mental retardation means a condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person which is specially characterised by subnormality of intelligence; ** ** ** (t) person with disability means a person suffering from not less than forty per cent of any disability as certified by a medical authority; (u) 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; ** ** ** (w) rehabilitation refers to a process aimed at enabling persons with disabilities to reach and maintain their optimal physical, sensory, intellectual, psychiatric or social functional levels; SECTION 56 OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES, PROTECTION OF RIGHTS FULL PARTICIPATION) ACT, 1995* Institutions for persons with severe disabilities. 56. (1) The appropriate Government may establish and maintain institutions for persons with severe disabilities at such places as it thinks fit. (2) Where, the appropriate Government is of opinion that any institution other than an institution, established under sub-section (1), is fit for the rehabilitation of the persons with severe disabilities, the Government may recognise such institution as an institution for persons with severe disabilities for the purposes of this Act : Provided that no institution shall be recognised under this section unless such institution has complied with the requirements of this Act and the rules made thereunder. (3) Every institution established under sub-section (1) shall be maintained in such manner and satisfy such conditions as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government. (4) For the purposes of this section person with severe disability means a person with eighty per cent or more of one or more disabilities.