NEW DELHI: Disability rights advocates and groups have described the Supreme Court judgment recognizing accessibility as a fundamental right for persons with disabilities as historic and hugely transformational.
The ruling is set to transform public life across India, compelling both state and central governments to prioritize the rights of disabled individuals, said the National Disability Network, an umbrella body representing 40 members from across India.
The judgment came following a writ petition filed by Rajive Raturi, a blind disability rights advocate, who sought judicial intervention to ensure equal access to public spaces for persons with disabilities in 2005.
The Supreme Court on November 8 said that disabled persons’ right to access environments, services, and opportunities is an essential human and fundamental right, which has hardly been realised on the ground. Former Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said that disability was a tragedy only if society failed to provide the differently abled with things essential to lead their lives.
Raturi, said, “The tragic death of a blind student in 2005 led me to file a PIL for the implementation of accessibility provisions under the 1995 Persons with Disabilities Act. Despite years of frustration and limited progress, the Accessible India Campaign by the Union of India in 2015, gave new momentum to the case.”
“In 2017, Justice A.K. Sikri directed that full accessibility be ensured as per the 2016 Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, but responses from the state governments remained inadequate. After a long delay, the Supreme Court in 2023 tasked NALSAR’s Centre for Disability Studies with reviewing the progress, culminating in the November 2024 judgment, which has raised new hopes for a truly accessible India," she added.
Arman Ali, Executive Director of NCPEDP, said the ruling represents a pivotal moment in the fight for disability rights. "For too long, persons with disabilities have been sidelined in the development discourse. This ruling by the Supreme Court forces governments to take real, actionable steps to ensure that persons with disabilities can fully participate in all public life," he added.
Added Prof. Amita Dhanda, Head of Centre for Disability Studies, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, “To realize the right to accessibility, the government has been asked to make 'must be followed rules.’ Once these rules have been made, anyone who does not follow them could be denied completion certificates and fined heavily. The Court insisted that such rules must be made after consulting the stakeholders has poured steel into the accessibility mandate.”
“A durable accessibility structure requires both a floor and a ceiling. A minimum mandatory floor will make the right to accessibility a reality and provide a strong foundation to all rights of persons with disabilities," she added.
'Many states and union territories failed to improve disabled friendly accessibility'
According to the disability rights group, the journey for people with disability has been a tough one.
Although the Persons with Disabilities Act, of 1995 governed the legal framework for disability rights in India, it was only in December 2017, that the apex court issued a key ruling under the amended Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and the Accessible India Campaign.
The judgment laid out 11 action points for all states and union territories to improve accessibility in public spaces, including government buildings, railways, airports, ICT ecosystem, and transport carriers.
However, despite these directives, many states and union territories failed to comply, the disability rights group said. This prompted the court to appoint the Centre for Disability Studies (CDS) at the NALSAR University of Law to assess the status of accessibility in India.
Following this, the NALSAR-CDS along with the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), National Disability Network (NDN), and others submitted its report, “Finding Sizes for All.”
A pan-India survey captured the real-life accessibility challenges faced by persons with disabilities in their day-to-day lives, particularly in education and healthcare.
The survey and other findings contributed to the larger study, which formed the basis for the Supreme Court’s ruling on accessibility.
The order of the Supreme Court while putting a critical emphasis on universal design, comprehensive inclusion across disabilities, and integration of assistive technology; brings the fundamental right of accessibility within the golden triangle of Articles 14, 19 & 21 of the Constitution of India, they said.
The Supreme Court has called for the establishment of minimum mandatory norms for accessibility, creating the framework for an enforceable right to accessibility. This ruling is expected to lead to stricter accountability measures, including withholding of the completion certificates and the imposition of fines for non-compliance, the rights group said.
