All disabled candidates can use scribes to write exam: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said all disabled candidates can take scribes to write their exams without meeting the benchmark disabilities' criteria. Benchmark disability means a person with 40 per cent of a specified disability as per the certificate issued by a government authority. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said it was the Centre's responsibility to ensure its "proper and just" compliance.

"Guidelines issued by the respondent number 5 (Centre) pursuant to the directions of this court, have to be enforced, by extending the benefits for PwBD (persons with benchmark disabilities) candidates to all PwD (persons with disabilities ) candidates in writing their examinations, without any hindrance," said the bench. The court therefore directed the Centre to revisit the office memorandum of August 10, 2022, remove the restrictions and grant relaxations in a "reasonable manner".

Periodic surveys for compliance

The top court directed all the authorities, recruitment agencies and examining bodies to uniformly follow the guidelines issued by the Centre and ensure strict adherence through periodic surveys or verification. It directed periodic sensitisation drives in educational institutions for awareness among the examination conducting bodies for the effective implementation of the office memorandums.

Scribe certificate validity extended

The Centre was directed to set up a grievance redressal portal to register complaints to permit the candidates to approach it first before the court of law. The top court asked the Centre to extend the validity of the scribe certificate, currently being valid only for six months, to prevent the long wait time after applying, particularly, in rural areas and provide some time prior to the examination to allow the candidates to familiarise themselves with the scribe.

The apex court has granted two months to the authorities to abide by its directions. The direction came on a PIL filed by a candidate, Gulshan Kumar, seeking the scribe facility, compensatory time and all other facilities in the light of his disability status for bank examinations.