‘Don’t want someone else writing our exams’: Visually impaired law applicants get interim SC relief

Dodani says that it was when he appeared for CLAT-UG in 2019 that he realised how helpful assistive software was, helping him type his answers independently. Pointing out that the exam had visual data interpretation questions, graphs and images, he says: “A scribe can try to describe them. But you are dependent on how well they explain what they see.”

Having got into the prestigious NALSAR, Dodani ran into other challenges.

Eventually, with the support of students and administrators, NALSAR set about formulating formal disability protocols. The experience taught him that “systems move when pushed”, says Dodani.

NALSAR’s disability initiatives proved a godsend when Covid hit in 2022, as visibly impaired students such as him could use screen-reading software to track both course material and write answers.

After NALSAR, Dodani decided to give the All India Bar Examination in October 2024. Accordingly, two-and-a-half months before the exam, he wrote to the Bar Council of India requesting permission to use a computer equipped with screen-reading software, duly checked and provided by the authorities.

Dodani referred to the 2018 guidelines by the Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment’, stating that: “As far as possible, the examining body should also provide reading material in Braille or E-Text or on computers having suitable screen-reading software for open-book examination.”

Dodani says he got no reply. Meanwhile, in 2024, in reference to the CLAT-PG exam, the Consortium of National Law Universities, citing the 2018 notification, said scribes provided for applicants could have a maximum qualification of Class 12, in line with the principle of “one step below” the candidate.

Dodani says the notification made little sense. “If I am a law student in my 5th year, I am being asked to find a 17- or 18-year-old. You have to speak to their parents. Many refuse. Also, explaining complex legal terminology to someone at that level becomes difficult.”

In December 2024, as the date for the All India Bar Examination approached, Saiyam Shah found himself in the same shoes.

Surat-born Shah had studied at a special school for the blind till Class 12, also dependent on scribes. After school, Shah enrolled for B.A. LL.B. at Auro University, Gujarat. Here, he gave his first-semester exams with the help of a scribe. But then came the pandemic and, as exams moved online, he turned to a screen-reading software for exams.

When the campus reopened, Shah says, he appealed and was allowed by the university to continue with the software, allowing him to write his exams himself. He talks about how liberating that was. “It gives you control. You think and are able to type the answers yourself.”

But when Shah registered for the All India Bar Examination in 2024, he realised he wouldn’t be allowed computer access, and would have to use scribes whose qualification was only till Class 12.

Shah wrote to the Bar Council requesting permission to use a computer provided by the authorities. The replies remained inconclusive, even as the exam date approached. His anxiety mounted, Shah says. “Typing requires practice. Arranging a scribe also requires planning.”

Finally, in an interim order about a week before the exam, the Supreme Court directed compliance with the petitioners’ requests. Shah appeared for the exam on a computer and cleared it.

In Titwala, near Mumbai, Sarvesh Nayak was fighting his own battle regarding the CLAT-PG exam.

Born visually impaired, he studied at a residential school for blind boys until Class 10, then moved into mainstream education. At Government Law College Mumbai, he began appearing for his exams via a computer.

When offline exams resumed after Covid, he formally requested permission to use a computer with screen-reading software. From his fourth-semester onwards, he wrote exams independently.

The difficulty resurfaced when Mumbai University conducted centralised exams in his ninth and tenth semesters.

In July 2024, when it was his time to appear for CLAT-PG, Sarvesh says he sought computer access, invoking the 2018 guidelines. There was no response, till the interim order just a few days before the exam. Sarvesh was not granted computer access at that stage, but permitted to use a graduate-level scribe from a non-law background.

By November, the ordeal of all three had become a writ petition.

On February 10, in its order on the petition, the Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and N V Anjaria said the 2018 guidelines did not impose a blanket bar on visually impaired candidates appearing for the All India Bar Examination and CLAT-PG using scribes qualified beyond Class 12, and said they could use scribes enrolled in undergraduate courses, who are not pursuing law or other humanities courses.

Today, Dodani is preparing for the civil services examination, Sarvesh is pursuing an LLM in Intellectual Property Rights while working as a legal consultant, while Shah is an associate at a law firm in Noida.

Their concern is that the 2018 guidelines are just that, guidelines. “While rules and regulations are binding, guidelines are merely principles that are expected to be followed,” Dodani says.

“Guidelines already existed,” Shah adds. “The issue is implementation.”