A PIL has been moved in the High Court of Delhi seeking directions to ensure digitalised financial services are accessible to visually challenged persons & that the employees & customer care service providers of all banks & financial service providers are trained & sensitised towards their needs.
The petitioner has named the Central Govt through the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Ministry of Finance, & Reserve Bank of India as respondents in the matter.
The plea is slated to come up for hearing before a division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel & Justice Prateek Jalan on Nov 2.
The public interest litigation, filed by George Abraham through Lawyer Srishti Agnihotri last week, said that in the wake of most financial transactions becoming digitalized & technology transforming the banking & financial services across the country, there is a Constitutional obligation upon the state to ensure that these services are accessible for the visually challenged persons.
The petition said that touch-screen technology & websites & phone applications which aren't disabled-friendly are becoming huge obstacles for visually challenged persons while conducting their financial affairs. Visually challenged persons are legally considered competent to contract & it is their right to be able to handle their own financial affairs independently, it said.
The plea stated that "Digitalisation of banking & financial services that makes visually challenged/impaired persons dependent on sighted persons is in violation of their right to life with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution as well as their right to occupation under Article 19(1)(g)".
"Technology to make sure that all the devices, websites, mobile applications, other software, etc are accessible for visually challenged persons are available & recognized by the authorities. In fact, certain attempts such as voice-enabled ATMs have been made as per the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India. There are however several more impediments that require immediate attention & action on part of the authorities," it added.
The petition also sought directions to ensure that card reading devices for making card payments are accessible for visually challenged persons & also all bank websites & mobile phone applications for financial services are tested for accessibility at every stage of transactions.
Source Link
Picture Source :
