CLAT 2023: Plea filed in Supreme Court challenging stringent norms for scribes for differently-abled

An advocate has moved the Supreme Court challenging the recently introduced rules on scribes for the upcoming Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2023. (Arnab Roy v. Consortium of NLUs and anr).The public interest litigation (PIL) filed by disability-rights activist Arnab Roy has raised grievance with need for a benchmark disability to avail of scribes, as well as the rule that the scribe must be in the 11th standard or lower and not enrolled in any coaching centre. It states,"The Petitioner is personally aware of thirteen (13) visually impaired candidates who would be denied effective scribe assistance because of the restrictions imposed by the Consortium of National Law Universities with less than 4 weeks left before the exam date...the Consortium has denied the right to a scribe for PwD candidates who do not meet the benchmark disability, but with genuine difficulty in writing. The Consortium's decision is plainly contrary to Vikash Kumar vs. UPSC." It is highlighted that this would exclude those who, due to their disabilities, have a genuine difficulty in writing. .The 2023 edition CLAT is scheduled for December 18, 2022. .The petitioner states that the rules are excessive and arbitrary, and make it impossible for the specially-abled to find a suitable scribe. It is argued that the rule about the scribe not being enrolled in any coaching centre effectively eliminates most students in the 10th and 11th grade. The PIL, filed through Advocate N Sai Vinod, also flags the fact that the Consortium of National Law Universities (which conducts the examination), has not provided for a facility to assign a scribe to those who cannot find one due to financial or other constraints. The same is in breach of guidelines of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2018, it is pointed out.