No disabled student should be denied access to CLAT: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court bench observed that no deserving student, who is disabled, should be deprived of a scribe to give the CLAT exam.

The apex court has 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).

The bench 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," said the Court, as reported by Bar and Bench.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha 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.

CLAT 2023 is all set to be conducted on December 18, 2022.

The background of the case

The case was filed by an advocate and disability-rights activist Arnab Roy challenging the recently introduced rules on scribes for the upcoming CLAT 2023.

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 11th standard 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.

Read more:

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