By Satyendra Wankhade

The Supreme Court of India’s eCommittee conducted the first ever digital accessibility Information and Communications Technology (ICT) training for visually challenged judicial officers and court staff on April 17 and 18 at the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi.

As part of the eCommittee’s ICT capacity-building exercise, digital accessibility training for persons with disabilities is being implemented in a phased manner for judges and court staff. This training will be extended to cover all categories of disabilities. The first phase of this training program was held specifically for visually challenged judges and court staff.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud interacted with the participants from various parts of the country and heard their suggestions and feedback on the training.

As Chairperson of the e-Committee, CJI Chandrachud encouraged all High Courts to make their digital infrastructure accessible to all in conformity with the constitutional and statutory entitlements of persons with disabilities. His letter contained a series of structural interventions for all High Courts to undertake to enhance digital accessibility

The two-day training was held in two separate batches for 6 visually challenged Judicial officers and 14 visually challenged court staff. The program was conducted in a hands-on format and covered a range of assistive technologies.

These included accessible reading of court documents using screen readers and instant reading devices, creating and accessing digital documents, scanning and converting documents to accessible formats, using the internet and searching for judgments with screen readers, utilizing smartphone-based assistive technologies, orientation of keyboards and input in regional languages and the use of artificial intelligence tools and techniques for the visually impaired.

The programme was coordinated by R Arulmozhiselvi, Member (HR), e-Committee with Er Manish Verma, Director of National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities  (NIEPVD) and Dr Surabhi Pandey of the IIPA.