The
Delhi High Court on Thursday recorded an undertaking by the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting that it would finalise accessibility guidelines
for hearing and visually impaired persons on over-the-top (OTT) platforms
within the next three months, Bar and Bench reported.
Central
Government Standing Counsel Sandeep Mahapatra informed the court that the
ministry has published the draft guidelines on its official website and invited
comments from stakeholders and the public.
Justice
Sachin Datta disposed of the petition on the basis of this specific undertaking
by the ministry
“It
is assured by the ministry’s counsel that the feedback/ suggestion of the
petitioner will be duly considered and taken into account before formulation of
the final guidelines. It is further assured and undertaken that the final
guidelines shall be issued within three months. No further directions are
required to be passed in the present petition,” Justice Datta said.
The petitioners, who are visually impaired, had
approached the court due to the lack of disabled-friendly accessibility
features in recently released Bollywood movies on OTT platforms. During the last hearing, the court had directed
the ministry to draft guidelines in line with the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities Act, 2016, the news report said.
During
Thursday’s hearing, advocate Rahul Bajaj, representing the petitioners, raised
concerns over the draft. He noted that the ministry had consulted primarily
with members of the film and OTT industry and not with persons with
disabilities, stressing that all stakeholders should be part of the
consultation process.
The
court granted the petitioners the liberty to submit their feedback on the draft
guidelines. “In case the petitioner has any grievance with respect to the
formulation of guidelines, he shall be at liberty to take legal recourse,” the
court said.
The
draft, titled ‘Guidelines for Accessibility of Content on platforms of
publishers of Online Curated Content (OTT Platforms) for Persons with Hearing
and Visual Impairment’, is open for public comments until October 22.
According
to the draft, OTT platforms “shall strive” to provide audio descriptions in a
concise and comprehensible format that fits the allotted time, enhancing
content without causing distractions. Within six months, all new content must
include at least one accessibility feature, such as closed/ open captioning
(CC/OC), audio descriptors, or Indian sign language (AD/ISL), the news report
said.
The
guidelines currently do not cover live or deferred live events, audio-only
content like podcasts and music or short-form content such as advertisements.