Supreme Court seeks reply from Centre, MP on exclusion of visually impaired from judicial service

New Delhi: Taking note of a letter, the Supreme Court on Thursday turned it into a PIL and decided to examine the Madhya Pradesh judicial services rules which bar visually impaired candidates from being appointed as judicial officers in the state.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took cognizance of the letter on its own and issued notices to the Centre, the Registrar General of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and the state government.

The court appointed senior advocate Gaurav Agrawal as amicus curiae to assist it.

The CJI said he received a letter on the exclusion of visually impaired candidates from the district judiciary in the state.

"The MP Judicial Services Examination (Recruitment and Conditions of Services) Rule 1994 has been amended as a consequence which R 6A completely excludes visually impaired and no-vision candidates from seeking appointment to judicial service," the bench said in its order.

The top court had earlier set aside a judgement which had excluded candidates with more than 50 per cent visual or hearing disability from judicial services.