Supreme Court Allows Visually Impaired Candidates to Use Higher-Qualified Scribes in AIBE and CLAT
In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has permitted visually impaired candidates appearing for the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) and the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) to engage scribes with qualifications higher than 10+2. However, such scribes must not be law graduates.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and N.V. Anjaria accepted the suggestions advanced by the petitioners. Accordingly, the Court directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) and the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) to implement the revised norms at the earliest. It further instructed them to formally notify the changes well before the next examination cycle.
What the Court Approved
The Bench endorsed the petitioners’ proposal in clear terms:
“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 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 is possessing qualifications of more than 10+2 schooling.”
Previously, the applicable policy restricted scribes to candidates with only a 10+2 qualification. Therefore, the petitioners requested the Court to revisit the earlier circular governing scribe eligibility. According to them, the restriction imposed unnecessary limitations on visually impaired candidates.
Alignment With Government Guidelines
Importantly, the Court noted that the suggested modifications align with guidelines issued by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. These guidelines aim to enable specially-abled candidates to effectively appear for competitive examinations, including AIBE and CLAT.
Since the proposals were consistent with these guidelines, the Bench found no reason to take a different view. Consequently, it accepted the recommendations placed on record.
Directions Issued by the Court
The Supreme Court directed the respondents to file a compliance affidavit within two weeks. Meanwhile, the matter has been listed for further consideration on March 20, 2026.
Case Details
Case Title: Yash Dodani & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.
Appearance
For the Petitioners:
Mr. Amar Jain, Advocate
Ms. Sanchita Ain, AOR
For the Respondents:
Mrs. Archana Pathak Dave, Additional Solicitor General
Mr. Ashok Panigrahi, Advocate
Mr. Madhav Sinhal, Advocate
Mrs. Swati Ghildiyal, Advocate
Ms. Deeksha, Advocate
Mr. Pratyush Srivastava, Advocate
Mr. Manish, Advocate
Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR
Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR
Ms. Anjul Dwivedi, Advocate
Mr. Abhay Nair, Advocate
Mr. Sarthak Srivastava, Advocate
Mr. Mayur Goyal, Advocate
Ms. Pritha Srikumar Iyer, AOR
Mr. Arun Sri Kumar, Advocate
Mr. Shubhansh Thakur, Advocate
