Supreme Court Permits Visually Impaired Candidates To Engage Scribes With More Than 10+2 Qualification For AIBE, CLAT Exams

The Supreme Court of India issued a significant ruling on Friday regarding the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) and the All India Bar Examination (AIBE), stating that visually impaired candidates taking the test can now engage scribes with higher education levels than the previously required 10+2 standard as long as the scribes are not law graduates.

Submissions from petitioners seeking a review of the previous policy regarding the provision of scribes were accepted by a bench presided over by Chief Justice Surya Kant, which also included Justices Joymalya Bagchi and NV Anjaria. The Consortium of National Law Universities and the Bar Council of India (BCI) were ordered by the court to revise their policies in accordance with the ruling and formally announce the modifications well in advance of the upcoming exam cycle.

As per the live law reporting, the court endorsed the petitioners' suggestion that “specially-abled candidates having visual impairment, who are appearing for the All India Bar Examination, are entitled to have the assistance of a scribe, who is an undergraduate and is not pursuing the study of law or any other humanities course. This would necessarily mean that there is no bar on candidates for using a scribe who possesses qualifications of more than 10+2 schooling”.

This action was taken to guarantee equal opportunities for all disabled law candidates to sit for the Common Law Admission Test and the All India Bar Examination