NEW DELHI: The Court of the Chief Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) has imposed fines of Rs 50,000 on 96 organizations, including the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, for failing to comply with accessibility standards for websites, mobile apps, and other digital platforms. This penalty was enforced as of mid-June.
These 96 establishments are part of a broader group of 155 organizations that were previously fined Rs 10,000 in February, with a warning of higher penalties for continued non-compliance. The list includes various central ministries, departments, and private organizations.
The court pointed out that 95 of these organizations (excluding STQC) had neither submitted an accessibility audit report nor appointed an Integrated Audit & Assurance Professional (IAAP)-certified auditor. They had also failed to initiate the process of hiring auditors as of June 17.
The ministries facing penalties include those of Cooperation, Civil Aviation, Corporate Affairs, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Earth Sciences, Food Processing, Labour and Employment, Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Railways, Road Transport and Highways, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Statistics and Programme Implementation, Steel, Panchayati Raj, Information and Broadcasting, and Ayush.
In its order on June 20, the CCPD gave these organizations seven days to deposit the penalty into the National Fund for Persons with Disabilities. The court also announced that a fresh review of compliance reports would be conducted in July. Organizations that remain non-compliant will face increased fines, potentially as high as Rs 5 lakh.
The CCPD has requested that organizations, including ministries, that contest their penalties provide evidence of compliance. The court had earlier sought access to audit reports and questioned whether “access auditors” were appointed as required by law to verify whether websites, portals, and apps meet accessibility standards designed to assist individuals who are blind, deaf, or deaf-blind.
The court expressed “dismay and shock” over the fact that STQC, the very body relied upon by government organizations for accessibility audits, itself failed to meet the standards. STQC had informed the court that it was redesigning its website to comply with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, due to its previous website’s inaccessibility.
In addition to the 96 penalized organizations, the CCPD noted that 20 organizations had begun the process of appointing access auditors, 63 had appointed auditors but not submitted audit reports, and 18 had submitted their audit reports.
While five organizations that paid the Rs 10,000 fine reported having appointed an auditor, three did not provide any update on the process, and two were in the process of hiring one. However, none of the organizations that paid the fine submitted the required access audit reports.
