CLAT 2023-Plea In Supreme Court Challenges Stringent Conditions Imposed By Consortium On Persons With Disabilities Intending To Avail Scribes

The petition, filed through Advocate-on-Record, Mr. N. Sai Vinod, assails the conditions for being arbitrary, excessive and unreasonable. It appears that 13 visually impaired candidates were denied scribes owing to the restrictions imposed by the Consortium of National Law Universities. The Consortium prohibits scribes if they are above 11th grade or they are affiliated to any test preparatory organisation or examination coaching centre.

According to the petitioner, the Consortium has denied the right to scribes to anyone other than those with benchmark disability. It is argued that the same is in violation of the decision of the Apex Court in Vikash Kumar v. UPSC wherein it was held -

"To confine the facility of a scribe only to those who have benchmark disabilities would be to deprive a class of persons of statutorily recognised entitlements."

The eligibility conditions set out by the Consortium has been contended to be excessive and arbitrary and has been culled out as the reason for making the process of finding a scribe difficult for the PwD candidates.

Above all, the petition expresses concern that the Consortium has disowned its positive obligation to provide scribes for those who are unable to select or find one themselves either because of financial constraints or other accessibility issues. As per the plea, the Consortium is also in violation of the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Society Justice and Empowerment that requires examination bodies to provide a scribe on request in case the PwD candidate cannot arrange for one themselves.

It is emphasised that as per the prescription of the Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment "in case the candidate is allowed to bring his own scribe, the qualification should be one step below the qualification of the candidate taking the examination". However, the Consortium does not allow candidates to avail scribes who are above 11th grade or are affiliated to any test preparatory organisation or examination coaching centre. Therefore, the petition argues that because of the first condition the category of scribes who are presently in 12th standard are eliminated and because of the second condition those who are in 10th and 11th standard are also eliminated, making it further difficult for the PwD candidates to find scribes by themselves.