NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Wednesday opened an information technology enabled window for visually impaired law graduates to take All India Bar Examinations (AIBE), the gateway to start practice as an advocate, without being dependent on scribes to write the answers.
Three of the five visually impaired law graduates through advocate Rahul Bajaj, who too is visually impaired, impressed upon the bench that given government guidelines of Aug 2018, Bar Council of India should permit these candidates to appear in AIBE using a new screen reader software .
Acknowledging Bajaj’s lucid explanation, the bench had asked advocate Akshay Amritanshu, who appeared for Bar Council of India which conducts AIBE twice a year, to ensure following facilities:
- JAWS (Job Access with Speech) screen reader, in addition to the option for NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access) screen reader, is made available to the candidates.
- The candidates be permitted to use their own keyboard and customised mouse, if not the laptop, in conformity with Union government’s Aug 29, 2018, office memorandum
- The candidates be permitted to complete downloading/installation of the screen reader software and other related exercises a day prior to the commencement of the examination,
- The candidates be permitted to answer the questions on computer instead of through a scribe, but the option for use of scribe must also be allowed to be exercised by the candidates who want to opt as such.
SC told BCI that if it did not comply with all the four directions scrupulously, it would stay the examinations scheduled for December 22. Justice Kant-led bench also said these facilities should be incorporated by Consortium of National Law Universities.
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