Issuing of Identity Cards to Disabled Persons (Chandigarh)

What is the Chandigarh disability identity card?

Issuing of Identity Cards to Disabled Persons is a service of the Department of Social Welfare, Women & Child Development, Chandigarh Administration. The card is the piece of paper that turns a medical fact into an administrative one: it identifies the holder as a person with a disability so that Chandigarh's welfare schemes and concessions can be claimed without re-proving the condition each time.

The single most important thing to know about the Chandigarh card is a procedural change made a decade ago. Vide notification no. SW2/PWD/Rules/2016/3679 dated 7 April 2016, the countersignature of the Director Social Welfare, Chandigarh Administration is no longer required on disability identity cards. The cards are now issued directly by the designated dispensaries and hospitals of UT Chandigarh. Applicants who are told to take their card to the Social Welfare Department in Sector 17 for a countersignature are being sent on an outdated errand.

Alongside the UT card sits the national Unique Disability ID (UDID) card, applied for at swavlambancard.gov.in. Both rest on the same medical assessment by a hospital medical board, and most central concessions now ask for the UDID. Chandigarh residents in practice go through one assessment and end up with both documents.

Who can get a disability identity card in Chandigarh?

You can get the card if:

• You are a resident of UT Chandigarh and can show address proof.
• You have a disability assessed by the medical board of a designated UT hospital, which fixes the type of disability and the percentage.
• You apply at a designated UT dispensary or hospital, these are the authorities supported to issue the card since April 2016.
• You can produce the application form, photographs, Aadhaar and residence proof.

You cannot get the card if:

• You are not resident in UT Chandigarh. A resident of Mohali, Panchkula or Zirakpur applies to the corresponding authority in Punjab or Haryana, not to Chandigarh.
• The medical board has not assessed the condition, or the assessment does not record a disability. Self-declaration and private doctors' letters do not substitute for the board.
• The condition assessed does not meet the threshold set for the benefit you intend to claim. The card records the percentage; individual schemes then apply their own minimum, commonly 40 percent benchmark disability.
• You apply through an agent or a private clinic claiming to issue cards. Only designated UT dispensaries and hospitals issue them.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the disability identity card in Chandigarh

1. Download the application form, "Form For Issuing of Identity Cards to Disabled Persons", from chdsw.gov.in in English or Hindi, or collect it at the designated dispensary or hospital.
2. Register on the national UDID portal at swavlambancard.gov.in, fill the application carefully and submit it online, selecting a designated Chandigarh hospital for assessment.
3. Track the application status on the portal. When it shows the submitted mode, visit the UDID and disability certification section of the hospital you chose.
4. Get the application verified at the hospital counter, where staff correct any errors in the details you entered.
5. Attend the medical assessment on the scheduled date, when specialist doctors examine the condition and prepare a detailed report.
6. Await the medical board review, which determines the type and percentage of disability and validates the certificate.
7. Collect or receive the card. The UDID card and disability certificate are generated and dispatched to the registered address by Speed Post; the UT identity card is issued by the designated dispensary or hospital.

Where is the assessment done in Chandigarh?

Government Medical College & Hospital, Sector 32 (GMCH-32) runs a dedicated Disability Cell and a Centre for Disability Certificate, and publishes the step-by-step UDID procedure on gmch.gov.in. The hospital can be reached at 0172-2601023 or 0172-2601024. Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16 (GMSH-16) is the other principal UT facility. Because the list of designated dispensaries and hospitals is revised from time to time, confirm the current centre before travelling, especially for a child or a person with limited mobility.

What is the card used for?

The Chandigarh Department of Social Welfare runs a group of schemes for persons with disabilities that all take the identity card or certificate as their entry document:

• Disability pension for eligible residents.
• Scholarships for students with disabilities.
• Unemployment allowance for disabled persons, which has its own application form on chdsw.gov.in.
• Subsidy on petrol and diesel for persons with disabilities.
• Prosthetic aids and appliances.
• Free vocational training.
• UT Chandigarh Funds for Persons with Disability, which has a separate benefit form on the department website.

The card is also the document that proves disability for concessions offered outside the UT — rail and air fare concessions, income tax deductions and reservation in education and employment, though most of these now ask specifically for the UDID card.

Why do applications get delayed or rejected?

• Assessment appointment missed. The medical board sits on scheduled dates; a missed date sends the file to the back of the queue.
• Details entered wrongly on the UDID portal, particularly name spelling and Aadhaar number, which the hospital then has to correct at the counter.
• Address proof outside Chandigarh, which moves the case to another state's authority.
• Insufficient medical records for the board to assess a condition that is not visible on examination alone.
• Card sought without any assessment, on the strength of a private doctor's letter.
• Waiting for a countersignature that has not been required since 7 April 2016, an avoidable, self-inflicted delay.

Where do I get help or complain?

• Department of Social Welfare, Women & Child Development, Additional Town Hall Building, 3rd Floor, Sector-17 C, Chandigarh 160017
• Phone: 0172-2700372
• Email: dirswd-chd[at]nic[dot]in
• GMCH-32 Disability Cell: 0172-2601023, 0172-2601024
• National UDID portal: swavlambancard.gov.in
• Written grievances can be filed through "Lodge Your Grievances" on chdsw.gov.in

Both the UT identity card and the UDID card are issued free. No fee is payable to any agent, and no departmental or hospital official will ask for money to schedule a medical board date.