Supreme Court Directs Centre To Provide Financial Aid To CDS, NALSAR For Study To Make Public Buildings Accessible To Disabled Persons

The Supreme Court on Friday (January 9) directed the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to bear the expenses for the Centre for Disability Studies (CDS), NALSAR University of Law which was previously asked to make a report on steps to be taken to make public buildings and spaces fully accessible to persons with disabilities.

These directions came as a culmination of the order of the bench of Justice AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan on 15 December 2017 in Rajive Raturi v Union Of India, passing certain directions along with timelines to make public spaces and buildings more accessible for persons with disabilities.

On November 29, 2023, the Court asked CDS, NALSAR to undertake a study in this regard.

The bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra stated earlier that the report shall be made on how to make all states and centre buildings, airports, and railway stations as well as public transport carriers, government websites, and ICT ecosystem fully accessible to persons with disabilities and shall be submitted to court in 6 months.

The Court on Friday acknowledged the acceptance mail sent to the Registry on December 31, 2023, by the CDS Head Amita Dhanda to undertake the exercise of submitting the report.

Professor Amita Dhanda head of CDS, in her email to the registry, also indicated that with the limited resources, NALSA may not match the tasks to be undertaken.

Taking note of the same the bench head by CJI directed that the University's expenses for the project be “ Reimbursed by the Department of Disability, The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Professor Dhanda has stated that CDS shall undertake the task by observing all the norms of financial frugality that should inform public spending”.

Advocate Ms Mugdha appearing for the petitioner requested that the Court permit the organisation to create a network of lawyers, activists and students who could contribute to the project at hand.

Yielding to the same, the Court further observed that the Head of CDS would be at liberty to chalk out the modalities for implementing the work, including engaging requisite experts and field workers, who will carry out the exercise in the States and Union Territories.

However, appearing on behalf of the Union, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Mr Vikramjit Banerjee submitted that the concerned ministry be also allowed to conduct their research alongside. The Court said that it has not restrained the Government.

When the ASG further pressed on how he had gotten instructions to inform the court about the ministry's inclination to conduct the exercise considering the various requisites, mechanisms involved in research etc, the CJI expressed, “ That's why we have chosen NALSAR. We have not chosen some NGO with a very different kind of ideology. Its NALSAR, they are contributing some of the best minds to the legal profession of the country…. We haven't restrained you and the govt itself is getting domain experts from across the world.”

The CJI, explaining the importance of having experts from civil societies contribute to social projects, recalled “ Even when we had an accessibility audit of the Supreme Court chaired by Justice Ravindra Bhatt, he got experts from across the civil societies in the area”

The exercise will be completed by CDS in June 2024.

Case Details: RAJIVE RATURI vs. UNION OF INDIA W.P.(C) No. 000243 / 2005

Click here to read the order