SC passes further guidelines to ensure access to CLAT for candidates with disabilities
On Friday, the Supreme Court of India directed the consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) to provide a scribe for physically disabled candidates, who are unable to find scribes on their own, to take up the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) examination for admission to the LL.B course.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud said: “The consortium of NLUs should provide scribes to a candidate who cannot get a scribe.” The bench observed that no deserving student, who is disabled, should be deprived of a scribe to give the exam.
The bench, also comprising justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, also passed a slew of directions to ensure that the candidates with disabilities should be provided with all facilities as stipulated by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in its memorandum.
The bench directed that in the future, the guidelines applicable for the facilities to be extended to the persons with disabilities candidates should be issued well in advance. It further added that it would ensure clarity for candidates regarding the nature of the facilities to be made available to them for the CLAT.
For the time being, the apex court accepted submissions of the consortium of national law universities that a candidate aspiring to get through CLAT cannot be provided with a student of Class 11 as a scribe if that student is taking any coaching to prepare for a competitive examination.
The consortium of NLUs contended that CLAT consisted of multiple-choice questions and it is essential to ensure that the scribe does not provide answers independently, which is required to protect the sanctity of the test.
The top court directed the consortium of NLUs to formulate the modalities consistent with the submissions to avoid any difficulty, which could be faced by persons with disabilities. The court passed the order on a plea filed by disabled rights activist Arnab Roy challenging some stringent conditions imposed by the CLAT consortium on persons with disabilities intending to avail scribes.
The petitioner raised a grievance regarding the need for a benchmark disability to avail scribes, as well as the rule that the scribe must be a student of Class 11 or lower grade and not enrolled with any coaching centre.
The petitioner argued that this would exclude those disabled persons who have genuine difficulties in writing. The PIL also alleged that the Consortium of National Law Universities (which conducts the examination), has not provided any facility to assign scribes to those who cannot find one due to financial or other constraints.
In December last year, the apex court issued a notice on the plea and directed the consortium of NLUs to ensure that no physically disabled student was denied access to the upcoming CLAT examination and all necessary facilities. The facilities for the physically disabled students included a scribe to write the papers for deserving candidates.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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