The Delhi High Court has come down heavily on Rapido for its failure to provide adequate accessibility for persons with disabilities, NDTV reported on Thursday.
In a stern order, the court has demanded that the ride-hailing service provider improve accessibility for the persons with disabilities on its app and suspend operations till that is done.
The development follows a petition by two visually impaired persons. Their advocate Rahul Bajaj told NDTV that Rapido provided a summary of an accessibility audit report that they claimed they received on Tuesday night.
"That report showed that there are 170 accessibility errors in the platform at the base level of WCAG level A," he said. "It also showed 81 major failures in the accessibility of the app, and this is as per their own audit. Quite apart from the concerns that we got from disabled users which we were also carrying."
The court has given the ride aggregator four months to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities on its app. Else, it has asked them to pack up from India.
At the same time, the court asked how the app was allowed to function without complying with the existing law. The high court has asked the joint secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to provide an explanation.
He has been asked to be present during the next date of hearing and mention the steps that they are taking to ensure that transport apps are checked for accessibility at the time of their release.
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