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Delhi HC seeks response from Swiggy, Zepto, Meity on PwD accessibility plea
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from Swiggy, Zepto, and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on a plea alleging that the mobile applications of Swiggy and Zepto are inaccessible for persons with disabilities.
Justice Sachin Datta has fixed the hearing on May 28.
The petition has been filed by Mission Accessibility, an NGO advocating the rights of persons with disabilities.
The plea says that the mobile applications in question are inaccessible for persons with disabilities, particularly those with visual impairments. This prevents people from using essential services such as food delivery, grocery shopping, and restaurant reservations, the plea said.
It also said that both Zepto and Swiggy platforms have failed to ensure compliance with accessibility requirements under Sections 40 and 46 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016 and Rule 15 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2017.
Section 40 of the RPWD Act mandates the central government to set accessibility standards for physical environments, transportation, and information and communication technologies. Section 46 requires all government and private service providers to ensure accessibility in accordance with these rules within a two-year timeframe.
As per the plea, the lack of accessible search features, unlabelled interactive elements, absence of essential product details, and the inability of visually impaired users to position their device cameras for necessary transactions, such as returning items, create severe barriers to independent digital access.
The petition sought a court direction to the two platforms to submit a detailed accessibility audit report from a government-empanelled auditor identifying all existing barriers faced by persons with disabilities on their digital platforms.
A direction is also sought on Zepto and Swiggy to provide a long-term strategy to ensure that all future updates, modifications, and newly introduced features remain fully accessible and compliant with established accessibility standards.
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