TN Govt asked to provide scribe for blind student

Chennai, Dec 12 (UNI) The Madras High Court today directed the Tamil Nadu Government to appoint a scribe for a blind student to write his examination, without collecting scribe's fees from him.

The first bench, comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice V Ramasubramanian, ordered notices on a writ petition to Higher Education and Social Welfare Department Secretaries, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore, authorities and Principal of Voorhees college, returnable by December 17.

The petitioner, R Senthil, a blind orphan studying first year Tamil Literature at Voorhees College, stated that for his first semester examinations, commencing from December 13, he was asked to pay scribe fees for engaging a scribe to write on behalf of him.

He said that while submitting his exam application form, he had given a request letter to the varsity to waive his scribe fees as he could not afford to pay the same. But, the varsity had replied in the negative. He had not faced any difficulty in getting a scribe appointed at Government expense till he completed his school education, he added.

UNI