In a significant judgment, the Madras High Court has observed that the plea of an engineer suffering from Writer’s Cramp (a neurological disorder that affects fingers, hand or forearm) to engage a scribe for the Civil Services examinations should be considered pragmatically in the light of beneficial legislations applicable to the physically challenged.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad made the observation while disposing of a writ petition filed by P. Gokul Kaleeswaran, who sought a direction to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to permit people suffering from Writer’s Cramp to engage scribes as it was being permitted in the case of the visually challenged candidates.
Contending that candidates like him would not be able to write examinations at a stretch for three hours, he claimed the refusal to permit scribes for such candidates was in violation of the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act of 1995 as well as the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016.
The Division Bench held that they would not be able to grant the relief sought for by the candidate since all service related matters, including those covering pre-service issues such as examinations conducted for recruitment, should, at the first instance, be raised before the administrative tribunals constituted for such a purpose before filing a writ petition in the High Court.
The bench pointed out that an application preferred by Mr. Kaleeswaran last year, seeking the assistance of a scribe for writing the November 2017 examinations, was still pending before a tribunal in Chennai. However, pendency of the said Original Application would not disentitle the petitioner from seeking appropriate relief if any application is filed for the latter period.
“We only observe that the grievance of the petitioner be addressed with reference to the statutory provisions pragmatically, keeping in mind the objects of the Acts,” the judges added.
