Providing relief to hundreds of visually impaired candidates set to take Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) on Sunday,the Delhi High Court on Saturday ordered the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to not ask them to compulsorily produce an additional certificate of disability. The court also addressed the other demand of the visually challenged petitioner and directed the Board to provide scribes to all such candidates in order to facilitate them take the exam,besides giving an additional 30-minute time. A vacation bench of Justices Manmohan Singh and Suresh Kait came to the aid of the visually impaired candidates on a petition by Score Foundation and Prateek Jain,a candidate appearing for the CTET on Sunday. They had approached the court through their counsel,Pankaj Sinha,for quashing the initial advertisement issued by the CBSE on April 9. The advertisement mentioned no special measures,such as providing extra time to disabled candidates. Following Jains plea,the Board issued a notice on June 23 stating the Board had made special arrangements for disabled candidates in appropriate cases. The notice asked the candidates to make their request in writing to the centre superintendent one day before the examination,and produce a disability certificate as confirmation of their impairment and need for a scribe. Otherwise,they should produce a certificate that the candidate is unable to write the examination as certified by a medical officer. The petition called the demand discriminatory and unfair as it asked visually impaired candidates to bring a note from a doctor,despite the fact that they already had disability certificates. The CBSE shall inform all the centre superintendents to give the benefits to physically disabled persons on the basis of existing disability certificates, read the court order.
