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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Standing firmly with armed forces; time for unity, solidarity: Congress
New Delhi(PTI): This is a time for unity and solidarity and the Congress is standing firmly with the armed forces, the party said on Wednesday as Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes on terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said India's commitment to eliminating all sources of terrorism in Pakistan and PoK has necessarily to be uncompromising and always be anchored in the supreme national interest.
"This is a time for unity and solidarity. Right from the night of April 22nd, the Congress has been categorically stating that the government will have our fullest support in the nation's response to the Pahalgam terror attack," he said.
"The Congress is standing firmly with our armed forces," Ramesh said on X, using the hashtag "Operation Sindoor".
In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes early Wednesday on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base Muridke.
The military strikes were carried out under Operation Sindoor two weeks after the massacre of 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
"A little while ago, the Indian armed forces launched 'Operation Sindoor' hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed," the defence ministry said in a statement at 1.44 am.
It said the actions by the Indian armed forces have been "focused, measured and non-escalatory" in nature and that no Pakistani military facilities have been targeted.
"प्रहाराय सन्निहिताः, जयाय प्रशिक्षिताः"
— ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) May 6, 2025
Ready to Strike, Trained to Win.#IndianArmy pic.twitter.com/M9CA9dv1Xx
