The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed, on its own motion, ‘visually impaired and low vision’ prospective candidates to apply for the examination for Judicial Services of Madhya Pradesh.
The candidates approached the Apex Court after the recent amendment to the M.P. Judicial Services Examination (Recruitment and Condition of service) Rules 1994, which, vide Rule 6A after amendment, completely excluded ‘visually impaired and low vision’ candidates from appointment to the Judicial Services.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra took suo motu cognisance of a letter written to the CJI by a prospective candidate and converted the same into a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, to evaluate the legality and merits of the impugned Rule and to safeguard the fundamental rights of such specially-abled candidates.
During the hearing, the Bench appointed Senior Advocate Gaurav Aggarwal as the Amicus Curiae in the matter to assist the court in arriving at the right decision.
The top court of the country appointed Ravi Raghunath as the Advocate-on-Record for the proceeding initiated on the Court’s motion in the case case titled ‘In Re: Recruitment of Visually Impaired in Judicial Services’.
The Bench further issued notice to the Central government, the State of Madhya Pradesh, and the Secretary General of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, in the matter.
Earlier in 2021, the Apex Court in the case Vikash Kumar vs Union Public Service Commission, had overruled an earlier precedent, which excluded candidates with more than 50 percent visual or hearing disability from judicial service.