Ensure that no disabled student is denied access to appear for CLAT: Supreme Court to NLU consortium

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Consortium of National Law Universities to ensure that no disabled student is denied access to appear for the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) [Arnab Roy vs Consortium of National Law Universities]..A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha observed that no deserving student, who is disabled, should be deprived of a scribe to give the exam. "Please see the list of 13 disabled students appearing in this exam and it will be seen they are not deprived of the writers," the Court directed. .Further, the bench said that the issue would be examined again after this year's exam is held and, therefore, asked the consortium to submit an updated affidavit. .The order was passed after the Court considered a note put forth by the consortium setting out the manner in which the exam would be conducted. The 2023 edition of CLAT is scheduled to be held on December 18, 2022..The case being heard by the top court was filed by an advocate and disability-rights activist Arnab Roy challenging the recently introduced rules on scribes for the upcoming CLAT 2023.The public interest litigation (PIL) petition raised grievance regarding the need for a benchmark disability to avail scribes, as well as the rule that the scribe must be a student of 11th standard or lower grade and not enrolled with any coaching centre. .The petitioner claimed that this would exclude those disabled persons who have genuine difficulties in writing. The petitioner stated that the rules are excessive and arbitrary, and make it impossible for the specially-abled persons to find a suitable scribe.It was 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 flagged the fact 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.The same is in breach of guidelines of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2018, it was pointed out..CJI Chandrachud had yesterday remarked that the benchmark disability criterion is only for the purpose of reservation and cannot be used to deny scribes. The bench had suggested that the NLUs devise a framework so that all persons-with-disabilities can avail of scribes. .[Read our live-coverage of the hearing below].[Read order]