Thanks for all the help. yesterday the court approved the guidelines and the maharashtra commissioner of Disabilities will issue a GR in 8 days.
The battle is won but the war still goes on. There are many issues that these guidelines will throw up which will need to go to court in the future. Also I do think that the other states need to get similar guidelines passed and also the Chief Commissioner needs to do some work on his original guidelines. Those of you in Maharashtra can photo copy the Order and use it during all exam. Here is the final set of guidelines. Guidelines for Appointment and Availing facility of Scribe 1. The scribe/writer should either be provided by the examining authority or be arranged by the candidate himself/herself at the discretion of the candidate. 2. Any attempt at cheating can be curbed by ensuring proper supervision and vigilance by the invigilators. 3. Considering the practical problems, it is necessary that if the scribe is provided by the examination conducting authorities, such authorities must ensure the competence of the scribe/writer. 4. The examining authority should make it very clear in the advertisement it self regarding availability of scribe/writers. 5. The Candidate should furnish in the application form it self that he/she would like to avail the facility of writer from the examining body or he himself would arrange for the scribe/writer. 6. The examining body should identify the scribes/writers and make the panels at district/Division or state level as per requirement of examination. 7. The Panels of scribe should be as per requirement of the stream/discipline eg. Arts, Commerce, Science & Mathematics, Engineering, Medical etc. and only eligible scribes should be included in the panel. 8. It is desirable that the candidate and the scribe are from the same stream. 9. In case the candidate avails the services of his/her own scribe/writer, the scribe/writer should be one grade junior in academic qualification than the candidate if from the same stream. However, this condition shall not apply if the scribe/writer is from a different stream. 10. No other restriction should be imposed on the selection of a scribe/writer. 11. The Chief invigilator of the examination center should have discretionary powers to accept last minute change of scribes under exigencies. 12. More than 1 scribe may not be permitted to write different papers. However, subject to clause (11) above such change be permitted. 13. The letter approving the scribe should contain the following information in writing: i. the extra time given to the candidate ii. He shall be seated separately iii. Beside the date and subject name, scribe name should be printed for every paper. iv. Contact address and phone number of competent authority should also be printed for last minute change of scribe. 14. Refreshments, if any to scribes/writers should either be served before or after the examination 15. Candidate and scribe should be provided with full information about the duration of the examination. 16. Additional time i. for a written test of duration of 1 hour at least 20 minutes extra time should be allotted. ii. Similarly for written tests involving more than one or less than one hour extra time should be worked out on the basis of 20 minutes per one hour criteria. 17. Proper sitting arrangement should be made before commencement of the examination so as to avoid confusion and distraction. 18. Sitting arrangements for the disabled candidates should be made on the ground floor, as far as possible. 19. Alternative questions must be provided in cases where the original question contains visual elements and/or require the candidate to interpret or produce such visual elements. However the candidate may elect to answer the original question. 20. Blind candidates have the facility to write answers in Braille or on a computer or a typewriter. The answer paper in Braille should be evaluated by the expert/examiners in Braille script. If possible the question paper may be provided in Braille or in digital text. 21. The SSC/HSC Boards, Universities, all educational institutions and all recruiting authorities should follow these instructions. Kanchan Pamnani Advocate & Solicitor 9, Suleman Chambers, Battery Street, Colaba, Mumbai - 400 039. To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
