Section 21 of the RPwD Act carries two duties and most guidance states one. You publish the policy, and you register a copy of it with the Disability Commissioner. Neither has an employee threshold: a two-person company owes both. What twenty employees changes is what the policy has to say.
Ten formats, from the worksheet that places you to the registers that prove you ran it.
Fill it before anything else. It tells you which of the two policies you owe, whether you need a liaison officer, and which three duties belong to Government establishments and not to a company like yours.
The full policy with all five limbs of rule 8(3), each tagged with the clause it answers, and the shorter rule 8(4) policy for under twenty employees. Both get registered, and both get displayed, the way the maternity abstract has to be.
Section 21(2) makes you register a copy with the Chief Commissioner or the State Commissioner. Rule 8 never mentions it, which is why so few policies are registered. Format 05 is the covering letter, and it asks you to keep proof of sending.
At twenty employees rule 8(3)(e) makes the appointment of a liaison officer part of the policy's contents. A policy that promises one without naming one has not satisfied the clause, so the pack has an appointment letter for it.
Rule 9(1) names five particulars: how many are employed and from when, name and gender and address, the nature of disability, the nature of work and the facilities provided. It is not Form-III, which rule 14 gives to Government establishments.
Crossing twenty employees changes what your policy must contain. Attendo keeps the headcount, and the register behind it, in one place.
Because most of them are somebody else's. Search for an equal opportunity policy and what comes back is a Government office memorandum with the letterhead changed. It carries reservation under section 34, a Grievance Redressal Officer under section 23 and the Form-III record under rule 14, none of which is a private employer's duty, and it misses the one duty that is.
That duty is section 21(2). Section 21 has two sentences. The first says every establishment shall notify an equal opportunity policy in the manner prescribed. The second says every establishment shall register a copy of the said policy with the Chief Commissioner or the State Commissioner. Rule 8 prescribes the manner for the first sentence, and says nothing about the second, because the second needs no rule to work.
The second reason is the threshold that is not there. Section 21(1) binds every establishment, and section 2(v) makes that a company, firm, society, trust, agency, organisation, union or factory with no headcount attached. Rule 8(3) then describes what the policy of a private establishment with twenty or more employees must contain, and rule 8(4) what a smaller one's must. People read the twenty and stop, which is how a nine-person company concludes it owes nothing when it owes a policy, a display and a registration.
The third is that the non-discrimination section everyone quotes is not the one that binds a company. Section 20 opens “No Government establishment shall discriminate against any person with disability in any matter relating to employment”, and its reasonable accommodation duty is worded the same way. A private employer is bound by section 3(3) instead: no person with disability shall be discriminated on the ground of disability, unless it is shown that the impugned act or omission is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Different section, and a defence section 20 does not carry.
Two things this page does not say. It does not say what your State has prescribed: the Act is central and binds everywhere, but a State Government also makes rules under section 100 and none were read for this pack, so treat anything your State requires as additional to this rather than instead of it. And it does not say there is a prescribed form for a private establishment, because there is not: section 22 tells every establishment to keep records, rule 14 gives Form-III to Government establishments only, and the pack builds its register from rule 9(1) instead. Where you are registered decides which Commissioner is yours, so check that alongside your own registration.
Rule 8(3) names five limbs for a private establishment with twenty or more employees, and for every Government establishment. Rule 8(4) asks a smaller establishment for the first of them.
| The duty | Where it comes from | Any size | 20+ only | Government only | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publish an equal opportunity policy | s.21(1) with rule 8(1) | Yes | no | no | 02 or 03 |
| Register a copy with the Commissioner | s.21(2) | Yes | no | no | 05 |
| Display it, website first | rule 8(2) | Yes | no | no | 02 or 03 |
| Five contents, and a liaison officer | rule 8(3), with 8(3)(e) | no | Yes | no | 02 and 04 |
| Grievance officer, complaints register, Form-III | s.23(1), rules 10 and 14 | no | no | Yes | not in this pack |
There is none on the duty. Section 21(1) binds every establishment and section 2(v) defines a private establishment without a headcount. The twenty everyone quotes is rule 8(3), and it decides the contents of the policy, not whether you need one.
Source: RPwD Act, 2016, s.21(1) with s.2(v)At twenty employees and above. Facilities, the identified posts, the manner of selection and training and transfer, assistive devices and accessibility, and a named liaison officer. Under twenty, rule 8(4) asks for the first.
Source: RPwD Rules, 2017, rule 8(3), with rule 8(4) for smaller employersSection 89 escalates. A first contravention of the Act or any rule under it carries a fine which may extend to ₹10,000. Any subsequent one is not less than ₹50,000 and may reach ₹5,00,000, and section 90 reaches the officers in charge.
Source: RPwD Act, 2016, s.89, with s.90 for officers of a companySection 21(2) makes you register a copy with the Chief Commissioner or the State Commissioner. Rule 8 never mentions it, so guidance written from the Rules leaves half the duty undone.
It does not. Twenty decides what the policy must contain, under rule 8(3) against rule 8(4). The duty to have one, display it and register it has no threshold at all.
Most policies online are Government ones. They carry section 20 duties, reservation under section 34 and a grievance officer under section 23, none of which is a company's, the same way the grievance committee is a different body under a different Code.
Rule 14 gives Form-III to Government establishments. A private establishment keeps the five particulars rule 9(1) names, in a layout of its own.
Rule 8(3)(e) makes the appointment part of the policy's contents. A policy that promises one in the abstract has not appointed anybody, the same way a safety officer has to be named rather than described.
Rule 3(4) forbids compelling a person with disability to partly or fully pay the costs of reasonable accommodation. No threshold, no exception, and it is easy to miss because it sits in the rule about discrimination rather than the one about the policy.
A Government memorandum, relabelled
Ten formats, both policy sizes included
Registering it and naming the officer is the rest. Attendo keeps the headcount and what each role does in one record.
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) is payroll and attendance software used by 40,000+ businesses across manufacturing, corporate offices, retail, hospitals and education. This template is one of the free HR downloads we publish, each built from the gazette rather than from other templates.
Ten formats, both policy sizes and the registration letter, in editable Word. Free, and no card.
