Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the stand of the Centre and app-based service providers Swiggy and Zepto to respond to a plea claiming that their apps were not accessible to people with visual disabilities.
Justice Sachin Datta issued the notice to the quick commerce platforms and the Centre on the petition by NGO Mission Accessibility and gave them four weeks to file responses, posting the matter for May 28.
The NGO’s plea contended that despite the legal mandate, Swiggy and Zepto were not compatible with screen-reader software, which made it difficult for those with visual disability to search for products or place an order.
According to the plea, the law mandated compliance with accessibility standards, and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act and its rules require accessibility features be present on the platforms. However, the inaction of authorities in enforcing the standards only aggravated the issue. The absence of accessible search features violated the fundamental rights under the Constitution of India, it said.
The platforms, the plea said, violated the dignity of persons with disabilities by denying them equal access to essential services.
“Adding items in the cart is difficult due to unlabelled images and icons, preventing the screen reader from providing necessary descriptions,” the petition said, giving an example from Swiggy. Similarly, it said that the Zepto app failed to provide accessibility for persons with visual impairments since the search box was completely unresponsive.
“The app does not respond to screen reading features, rendering navigation and interaction impossible for visually impaired users,” the petition complained.
Mayank Rawat
