BENGALURU: Upholding the order passed by the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities to pay Rs 10 lakh compensation to a teacher, who was injured while trying to save a student who had climbed out of a window on the first floor and was threatening to jump on his scores, the Karnataka High Court issued a “standard operating procedure for universal accessibility” for persons with disabilities in all public buildings across the state.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj ordered that the payment be made within three months, while dismissing the petition filed by PSBB Learning Leadership Academy, which challenged the June 12, 2020 order of the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities.
The court directed the school to provide the injured teacher a formal written offer of reinstatement in his job with the specific reasonable accommodations set out in her affidavit dated June 6, 2025. They include a ground-floor wheelchair-accessible classroom, a disabled-friendly washroom, a transport allowance of Rs 15,000 per month, 15-minute breaks after every two periods of classes, option to teach online on days of physical inability to attend classes and first-aid facility.
The court said that if the injured teacher accepts the offer of reinstatement within 30 days, the school shall ensure her reinstatement with seniority counted from her original date of appointment -- July 8, 2008, and with salary and emoluments applicable to a teacher of her grade and seniority. However, no back wages shall be payable for the period of absence to the date of reinstatement, given the equities of the situation, the court clarified.