Court: No limit on disability grant recipients per family

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 29: The Court of Cassation resolved a dispute over the Kuwait Credit Bank’s refusal to disburse a KD 10,000 grant to a child with a disability on the grounds that the grant had already been paid to other eligible individuals residing in the same household, reports Al- Seyassah daily. The court affirmed that there is no maximum limit on the number of grant recipients within a single family. In its reasoning, the court explained that Law No. 8 /2010 does not establish a limit on the number of grant recipients per household. The previous restriction limiting the grant to only two children had been repealed. Consequently, continuing to apply that restriction without a legal basis is impermissible. Article 9 of the executive regulations of the Disability Law stipulates that a person with a severe or moderate disability, or their family, is entitled to a KD 10,000 grant.

This grant is in addition to the housing loan allocated to non-disabled individuals and is intended to finance the construction of housing that meets specific requirements necessitated by the disability. Meanwhile, persons with mild disabilities, or their families, are entitled to KD 5,000, payable by the Kuwait Credit Bank in accordance with the agreement concluded between the bank and the Public Authority for Disability Affairs (PADA). The court clarified that the legislator granted individuals with disabilities, provided they meet the criteria for housing assistance, the right to a KD 10,000 grant in addition to the housing loan allocated to their non-disabled peers.

This right applies regardless of whether their family members have already benefited from such an increase, and even if the number of children with disabilities receiving the grant exceeds two. The court clarified that the legal provision was drafted in general and absolute terms; therefore, it cannot be restricted or limited to only two eligible children, in accordance with the principle that an absolute provision is to be applied without restriction, especially following the revocation of the limitation contained in Decision No. 320/2014, which had previously restricted the grant to only two children. The court held that the contested judgment, which dismissed the appellant’s claim because he was ineligible for the grant, awarded in addition to the housing loan, because it had already been paid to his disabled daughter and disabled mother, violated the law and involved a misapplication thereof, thereby necessitating its reversal.

The Court of Cassation ultimately set aside the previous judgment and ordered the Credit Bank to pay the KD 10,000 grant to the eligible claimant, notwithstanding the prior payment of the grant to others. It applied the principle that an absolute legal provision must be interpreted as such and cannot be restricted in the absence of a specific statutory provision to that effect. For his part, Lawyer Ali Al-Duwaikh praised the ruling, noting that it established a decisive and equitable principle regarding the rights of persons with disabilities to claim the KD 10,000 grant without a cap on the number of eligible beneficiaries, thereby paving the way for many similar cases.