YOGESH KUMAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition was filed by the petitioner seeking directions to the respondents to accept the application of the petitioner and provide him a scribe to write Class X Examination conducted by the respondent-Secondary Board of Education Rajasthan, scheduled to commence on 14.3.19.

(2.) The facts relevant are that the petitioner, a differently abled person, suffering from total absence of sight, filled up the examination form for appearance in the Class X Examination. The petitioner made an application to provide him a scribe of his own choice to write the examination, however, his request was not acceded to by the respondents.

(3.) Precisely, the case set out by the petitioner is that as per office memorandum dated 26.2.13 issued by the Government of India, the petitioner was entitled to be permitted assistance of prompter and scribe of his choice in relaxation of the criteria like education qualification, age or other such restrictions. As a matter of fact, the Government of India had issued office memorandum dated 29.8.18, whereunder it was provided that the candidate should have discretion of opting for his own scribe/reader/lab assistant or request the Examining Body for the same. The Examining Body was expected to identify the scribe/reader/lab assistant to make panels at the District/Division/State Level as per the requirement of examination. It was further provided that in case the candidate is allowed to bring his own scribe, the qualification of the scribe should be one step below the qualification of the candidate taking examination. However, the petitioner has brought on record office memorandum dated 1.1.19 (Annexure A/1), issued by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment providing that till the panel of the scribes is not formed, any of the departments, which are conducting exams, shall not conduct the exams in terms of the Guidelines dated 29.8.18. The said office memorandum was issued pursuant to the decision of the Delhi High Court in the matter of "Shri Aditya Narayan Tiwari vs. Union of India and Anr."?, decided on 15.11.18. According to the petitioner, the respondent having failed to constitute the panel of scribes, could not have enforced the office memorandum dated 29.8.18 and the petitioner was entitled to opt for his own scribe.