Tribunal directs SSC to reopen scribe-registration portal for PwD candidates and review age restrictions on scribes

The seven applicants challenged the age restriction imposed on a candidate’s own scribe by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), through its notice dated 4 November 2025 and a communication dated 31 August 2026.

They relied on the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities’ guidelines on scribe facilities, as considered in Vikash Kumar v. Union Public Service Commission and Gulshan Kumar v. IBPS.

The respondents maintained that the impugned conditions were intended to ensure uniformity, transparency and proper administration of examinations.

The Tribunal disposed of the application while directing the respondents to reconsider the impugned notices and to reopen the relevant registration portal for one week.

1. Whether the SSC’s additional age restriction on a candidate’s own scribe required reconsideration in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Gulshan Kumar.

2. Whether interim directions were warranted given that the relevant examination process was ongoing.

The Tribunal referred to the Department’s guidelines dated 29 August 2018 governing scribe facilities, the 8 February 2019 corrigendum concerning compensatory time, and the 10 August 2022 Office Memorandum extending scribe facilities to persons with disabilities as defined under Section 2(s) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

It also noted the revised guidelines dated 1 August 2025 and the Supreme Court’s decisions in Vikash Kumar v. Union Public Service Commission and Gulshan Kumar v. IBPS.

In particular, the applicants relied on Gulshan Kumar for directions requiring examining bodies to follow the nodal agency’s guidelines uniformly and to take steps to ensure compliance.

The Tribunal’s operative direction was to reconsider the impugned notices in light of Gulshan Kumar; it did not itself determine the validity of the age restriction.

The Tribunal recorded the parties’ competing positions but did not resolve the substantive question of whether the age restriction was unlawful.

Instead, having regard to the applicants’ reliance on Gulshan Kumar, it directed the respondents to revisit the notices concerning the “Own Scribe” facility and the examination information.

Because the examination process was ongoing, it also ordered a one-week reopening of the portal to enable eligible candidates to register and register their scribes.

It further directed that the portal be made available for one week for eligible PwD candidates to complete registration and scribe registration for the Stenographer Grade C and D Examination 2026 and the Combined Graduate Level Examination 2026.

There was no order as to costs, and any pending MA was also disposed of.