CLAT: NLU Consortium Assures Supreme Court Screen Readers Will Be Provided to PwD Candidat

The Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) on Monday assured the Supreme Court that candidates with disabilities who require screen-reader software would be provided the facility to take the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT).A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana was hearing a plea filed by one Yash Dodani concerning accessibility of CLAT for persons with disabilities.Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V MohanaThe issue came up after advocate Amar Jain, appearing for the petitioner, pointed out that the CLAT application form does not provide candidates with disabilities an option to indicate that they would take the examination using screen-reader software.Jain urged the Court to direct the Consortium to include such an option in the application form itself.“The application form itself (should) provide PwD candidates the option of taking the examination using screen readers, which is currently not captured,” he submitted.The Consortium of NLUs then told the Court that it is already in the process of finalising a separate notification setting out facilities available to PwD candidates. The notification would be issued within the next one or two weeks, it was submitted.The Consortium explained that its notification is being finalised following consideration by its executive committee.“It will be done. No difficulty,” the counsel assured the Court.The Consortium also assured