‘Despite laws, many spaces inaccessible to those with disabilities’

With SC poised to join Nat’l Judicial Data Grid, all its decisions will be available in free text search format which has in-built accessibility: Justice Chandrachud

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court’s e-committee has been working to make digital infrastructure in the judicial system more accessible to persons with disabilities, Apex Court’s Justice D Y Chandrachud said on Saturday.

He lamented that despite necessary laws, many government and private buildings, transport, parks and a host of other spaces continue to be inaccessible to persons with disabilities.

Justice Chandrachud, who is the chairperson of the Supreme Court’s e-committee, said though much more needs to be done to make the judiciary accessible to people with disabilities, it is progressing in the right direction.

With the top court poised to join the National Judicial Data Grid in the near future, all decisions of the Apex Court will be available in a free text search format which has accessibility built into it, he said.

Justice Chandrachud said the e-committee, in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre, has also created a judgment search portal accessible to persons with disabilities (PWDs) and over 75 lakh verdicts of the high court will be freely available.

Delivering the third ‘Professor Shamnad Basheer Memorial Lecture, 2022’ on the topic ‘Making disability rights real: addressing accessibility and more’, he expressed the hope that more such people will be able to preside as judges in Indian courts.

Justice Chandrachud said at the Supreme Court, the endeavour has been to make the process and system accessible to the PWDs.

“The e-committee of the Supreme Court has been working to make the digital infrastructure of the Indian judicial system more accessible to persons with disabilities.