CJI constitutes committee to conduct accessibility audit of SC premises
New Delhi (PTI): In a bid to remove the barriers to access, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud has constituted a committee headed by apex court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat to conduct an audit of "physical and functional access" of the top court premises to make them disabled friendly.
The 'Supreme Court Committee on Accessibility' has been given a broad mandate to prepare and release a questionnaire for persons with disabilities, including the apex court employees, advocates, litigants and interns, who visit the top court premises to assess the nature and extent of problems they face.
According to a notice uploaded on the apex court website, the committee will prepare a report on the accessibility audit, result of the survey of persons with disability and recommendations/proposals geared towards removing the barriers to access.
"The Chief Justice of India has been pleased to constitute a committee namely the 'Supreme Court Committee on Accessibility' to conduct accessibility audit of physical as well as functional access to the Supreme Court chaired by Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Judge, Supreme Court of India," said the December 19 notice.
The notice said 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 apex 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).
Additional registrar of the Supreme Court, Ajay Agrawal, is the member (secretary) of the committee.
As per the notice, the committee will conduct an accessibility audit of the top court premises and its functioning extending to both physical as well as technology accessibility.
It said one of the broad mandates of the committee is to carry out any other activity required to conduct the accessibility audit.
On November 24, in a bid to make the software used by the Supreme Court accessible to those visually impaired, Justice Chandrachud had, in the midst of a hearing, sought the assistance of senior lawyer S K Rungta and asked him how he follows written arguments and gets them converted into a braille document.
Rungta, who lost his vision at a very young age, was responding to the written submissions of some senior lawyers in a case related to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission before a bench headed by the CJI.
Chandrachud had then said some changes have been made to the official website of the top court by making it accessible through audio captchas.
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Rupee falls 9 paise to all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): Rupee depreciated 9 paise to an all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by uncertainty over an India-US trade deal and persistent foreign fund outflows.
Forex traders said rupee is trading with a negative bias as investors are in wait and watch mode and awaiting cues from the India-US trade deal front.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.53 against the US dollar, then fell further to an all-time intraday low of 90.58 against the greenback, registering a fall of 9 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee had slipped 17 paise to close at an all-time low of 90.49 against the American currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 98.35.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 0.52 per cent at USD 61.44 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex was trading 298.86 points lower at 84,968.80, while the Nifty was down 121.40 points at 25,925.55.
Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 1,114.22 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
"FPIs continue to be in selling mode in equity and debt while RBI has been selling dollars to fund their long positions," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
