Delhi HC forms panel for ensuring access to financial services to visually challenged persons

The Delhi High Court has formed a high-powered committee to look into the issues concerning accessibility of financial services to visually challenged persons.

The Delhi High Court has formed a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of an IIT Delhi professor to look into the issues concerning accessibility of financial services to visually challenged persons and offer practical solutions to the matter.

The bench of Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad in an order passed on July 29, 2022, said “a High Powered Committee is constituted by this Court to look into all the grievances raised in the petitions and to offer practical solutions in the matter.

The Chairman of the committee will be Prof. M Balakrishnan from IIT Delhi. The Director, IIT Delhi, is requested to provide all logistics support to the Committee constituted under the Chairmanship of Prof. M Balakrishnan. The panel has been granted three months’ time to submit the status report.

The direction has been issued while considering an application filed seeking directions for the appointment of a committee to ensure access to financial services for visually challenged persons.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad has clarified that the scope of work of the 7-member committee will not be confined only to the issues raised in the present case but to other ancillary issues as well.

“The Committee shall consist of the following persons (1) Prof. M Balakrishnan, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Delhi (2) Prof. Kolin Paul, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Delhi (3) Manisha Mishra, (GM), Department of Regulation (4) Tushar Bhattacharya, (DGM) Department of Supervision (5) George Abraham, the Petitioner (6) Amar Jain, Member of Blind Graduates Forum of India the Petitioner (7) Officer to be nominated by the Union of India,” the court said.

The Court was hearing an application along with a match of petitions seeking directions for the appointment of a Committee to ensure access to financial services for visually challenged persons. The plea also sought direction to the respondents to ensure that card reading devices for making card payments (Point-of-Sale Machines) are accessible for visually challenged persons.