Delhi High Court has asked Swiggy and Zepto to respond to a plea alleging their apps are not accessible to persons with disabilities. The petition cites violations of constitutional rights and the RPwD Act.
New Delhi (April 23): The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to online delivery platforms Swiggy and Zepto, along with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), asking them to reply to a petition that says their apps are not friendly or usable for people who are visually impaired.
Justice Sachin Datta heard the matter and told Swiggy, Zepto, and the Centre to file their responses within four weeks. The court has scheduled the next hearing on May 28.
This case was brought by a non-governmental organization called Mission Accessibility. The petition claims that Swiggy and Zepto are not following the rules set for making their apps usable by people with disabilities.
It says that their current platforms are violating the fundamental rights of such individuals, especially under Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Indian Constitution. These articles relate to equality, freedom of expression, and the right to live with dignity.
The petition also says that the companies are not complying with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 and the RPwD Rules, 2017. These laws require apps and websites to be designed in a way that disabled people, especially the visually impaired, can use them independently.
Advocates Rahul Bajaj and Amar Jain, who appeared in person for the case, explained to the court how screen readers – special software that helps blind people use apps and websites – do not work properly on Swiggy and Zepto’s platforms.
They said,
“Both the platforms were in blatant violation of statutory accessibility requirements.”
They also pointed out that,
even though the law required companies to follow accessibility rules by 2019, Swiggy and Zepto have continued to add new services that still cannot be used properly by screen reader users.
According to the petition, these companies are breaking rules under Section 40 and Section 46 of the RPwD Act, and Rule 15 of the RPwD Rules, 2017. The petition lists several problems such as:
- The search feature does not work with screen readers.
- Icons are not labelled, so users can’t know what they are for.
- Important product details are missing.
- There are no voice-guided steps for processes like returning items.
The petition explains,
“The exclusionary design of these platforms forces persons with disabilities to rely on third parties to access basic services, severely restricting their autonomy and independence.”
Because of these issues, Mission Accessibility has requested the Delhi High Court to issue certain directions to make things better. They have asked the court to:
- Tell the government to do a detailed accessibility audit using experts.
- Ask Swiggy and Zepto to prepare a time-bound action plan to fix these problems.
- Order the companies to start long-term strategies to follow accessibility rules as per BIS IS 17802 standards.
- Make it compulsory for developers and customer support staff to attend sensitization programs so they understand the needs of people with disabilities.
- Ensure the return and refund processes on these apps are fully accessible for visually impaired users.
The petition has also asked,
the court to direct the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) to take action.
They want the government to,
enforce the rules and apply penalties under Section 89 and Section 90 of the RPwD Act if the companies continue to ignore the accessibility standards.
This case brings attention to how important it is for digital platforms to be inclusive and follow the law, so that everyone – including people with disabilities – can use basic services with dignity and independence.
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