"Heart-Warming": Law Minister's Big Praise For Chief Justice's Order

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday praised an order of the Supreme Court allowing a judicial services aspirant suffering from writer's cramp to get a scribe to write his preliminary examination for the recruitment of civil judges in Uttarakhand.

The interim order was issued by a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Saturday.

Writer's cramp is a task-specific movement disorder that manifests itself as abnormal postures and unwanted muscle spasms that interfere with motor performance while writing.

"This is such a heart-warming action by hon'ble Chief Justice Dr DY Chandrachud. A great relief to a divyang (person with disability) candidate who sought a scribe for the Judicial Service exam in Uttarakhand," Mr Rijiju tweeted.

Timely justice to a deserving person is "very satisfying", he said, sharing a screenshot of a tweet posted by the lawyer of the candidate who had approached the top court.

The candidate, Dhananjay Kumar, had moved the Supreme Court, saying his request to the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (UKPSC) for a scribe was rejected on April 20, days ahead of the scheduled exam.

He urged the court to allow him a scribe as he suffers from writer's cramp and submitted a certificate issued by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, dated September 25, 2017, about his condition.

Taking note of the submission by advocate Namit Saxena, appearing for the candidate, the bench, also comprising Justice P S Narasimha, issued a notice to the UKPSC and the Uttarakhand government asking why his request for a scribe was rejected. It directed them to file a response by May 12.

"We issue an ad interim direction to the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission, which is in-charge of conducting the examination, to ensure that a scribe is provided to the petitioner for the ensuing examination..." the bench said.