Committee was constituted to conduct an accessibility audit of Supreme Court premises

2nd January 2023

To make the Supreme Court premises disabled friendly, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has constituted a committee headed by Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat to conduct an audit of physical and functional access to the top court. According to the notice uploaded on the apex court website, the “Supreme Court Committee on Accessibility” has been given a broad mandate to prepare and release a questionnaire for persons with disabilities, including the Supreme Court employees, advocates, litigants and interns, who visit the apex court premises to assess the nature and extent of problems they face. “The Chief Justice of India has been pleased to constitute a committee namely the ‘Supreme Court Committee on Accessibility’ to conduct an accessibility audit of physical as well as functional access to the Supreme Court chaired by Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Judge, Supreme Court of India,” the notice stated.

The committee will conduct an accessibility audit of the top court premises and its functioning extending to both physical as well as technological accessibility.

It said one of the broad mandates of the committee is to carry out any other activity required to conduct the accessibility audit. The committee will prepare a report on the accessibility audit, results of the survey of persons with disability and recommendations/proposals geared towards removing the barriers to access. The other members of the committee include Dr Sanjay Jain, professor of National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, Shakti Mishra, librarian nominated from the top court, V Sridhar Reddy, advocate nominated by the Supreme Court Bar Association and Nilesh Singit, independent accessibility expert nominated by the Centre for Disability Studies (NALSAR University of Law), while additional registrar of the Supreme Court, Ajay Agrawal, is the member (secretary) of the committee. (ANI)