SC - No disabled student would be denied access to appear for the CLAT examination.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ruled that no disabled student would be denied access to appear for Common Law Admission Tests (CLATs).

It was observed by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha that no deserving disabled student should be denied a scribe.

The bench also stated that the issue would be revisited after this year's exam and requested that the consortium submit an updated affidavit.

After considering a note from the consortium outlining how the exam would be conducted, the Court issued the order.

Arnab Roy, an advocate and disability rights activist, filed the case challenging the newly introduced rules on scribes for the upcoming CLAT 2023.

There were grievances raised regarding the need for a benchmark disability to obtain scribes, as well as the rule that scribes had to be students in 11th or lower grades and not enrolled in a coaching program.

According to the petitioner, this would exclude disabled people with genuine writing difficulties. According to the petitioner, the rules are excessive and arbitrary, which makes it impossible for specially-abled individuals to find a scribe who meets their needs.

Students in the 10th and 11th grades would be effectively eliminated by the rule about the scribe not being enrolled in any coaching center.

A PIL filed by advocate N Sai Vinod also highlighted the fact that the Consortium of National Law Universities (which conducts the examination) does not provide scribes for students who cannot find one for financial or other reasons.

According to the report, the same violates guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in 2018.

Yesterday, CJI Chandrachud noted that the benchmark disability criteria are only for reservation and cannot be used to deny scribes. As suggested by the bench, the NLUs should develop a framework to make scribe services available to all people with disabilities.