Practo Directed to Comply with RPwD Act by Making its App Convenient for Persons with Disabilities

Case: Rahul Bajaj vs Practo Technologies Pvt Ltd. & Ors.

The Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities Court recently directed Practo Technologies Pvt Ltd, a private establishment to make its mobile app convenient for persons with disabilities (divyangjan). The Chief Commissioner stated that all private establishments are bound to comply with guidelines issued by the government on the accessibility of apps and other information technology platforms.

According to Upma Srivastava, the Commissioner, all information and communication technology services must be accessible to people with disabilities under sections 40 and 46 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.

The Commissioner was hearing a complaint by a visually challenged individual against Practo Technologies Pvt Ltd over the inaccessibility of the company's website and app and the non-compliance with the specified standards. The complainant said that a few of the barriers are:

• An unorganized home screen which was not available with a screen reading software;

• The information was generated in an open go, not as different data points, so the results could not be accessed after providing inputs;

• The random crashing of the app.

Consequently, he compared his experience with accessing the app to the experience of a sighted individual who is required to use an app in a foreign language he is unfamiliar with and claimed that the company failed to comply with the provisions of Section 46 of the RPwD Act even after it took effect on April 19, 2017.

The company denied all of the allegations while expressing its willingness to make its platform accessible to people with special needs. However, counsel appearing for the company said that it was not bound by the guidelines. Moreover, there were no government instructions that could be followed, thus it had no idea how to proceed.

Directorate General of Health Services, the defendant, informed the court that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was the appropriate body to handle the situation. It was further said that following a discussion of Rule 15 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, the judgment noted that every company using information and communication technology, such as the respondent, must be accessible to people with disabilities.

After hearing the parties, the court directed the company to comply with government guidelines no later than 9 months. The court, however, scheduled another hearing on September 20 to survey the implementation of Sections 40 and 46 of RPwD Act,2016, and Rule 15 of RPwD Rules 2017.