Supreme Court directs NLU Consortium to publish CLAT scribe guidelines in advance; make reasonable accommodation for PwD candidates

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) to publish guidelines for facilities extended to persons with disabilities appearing in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), by the time this year's exam is notified. (Arnab Roy v. Consortium of NLUs and anr).A Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala noted that the Consortium can modify such guidelines in the future so as to preserve the integrity of the examination. "We direct that for the future guidelines which will be applicable to PwD [Persons-with-disabilities] candidates should be in public domain much earlier, during advertisement of the exam, and reasonable accommodation can be made available to them to ensure they are not left in uncertainty...The nature and content of the guidelines cannot be frozen for the future and the Consortium is at liberty to modify the guidelines keeping in mind the evolving nature of rights of the PwD candidates, and in case of any more difficulty consortium may be approached for remedies," the Court stated..The order came in a plea filed by advocate and disability-rights activist Arnab Roy challenging the recently introduced rules on scribes for CLAT 2023.The petition had raised grievance regarding the need for candidates to have 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 excluded those disabled persons who have genuine difficulties in writing. He challenged the rules as being excessive and arbitrary, and said that they make it impossible for 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..On the qualification norms for the scribes, the Bench observed that the same was needed to maintain the integrity of the examination process."It would not be appropriate to ignore the genuine concerns which have been set up on behalf of Consortium to maintain integrity of the exam process. It is from this perspective the Consortium has in its guidelines required that scribes should not be above 11th standard, and not be attending a coaching centre. At the highest, a candidate could have a grievance if no such scribe is available...The candidate can bring their own scribe or request the Consortium to provide one, and the same is made available."It noted that the petitioner's request that allotted scribes be allowed to meet the candidates two days prior to the examination, was a valid one." ... it is a valid request to familiarise them with each other, and thus but proper to give sufficient time for interaction.".Advocate Nikhil Nair appeared for the petitioner. Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal appeared for the consortium..CJI Chandrachud had in an earlier hearing remarked that the benchmark disability criterion is only for the purpose of reservation, and cannot be used to deny the facilitity of scribes. The Bench had suggested that the NLUs devise a framework so that all persons with disabilities can avail of scribes.The Supreme Court in December had directed the Consortium to ensure that no disabled student is denied access to appear for CLAT.