Supreme Court Summons Director General Of Health Services over Disabled MBBS Candidate's plea

New Delhi: Considering a petition on MBBS admission, the Supreme Court recently summoned the director general of the Centre's Directorate General of Health Services. The apex court then flagged the ''casual approach'' over the grant of admission to an MBBS aspirant from the disability category.

The bench was hearing a petition challenging a September 23 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which dismissed a plea filed by the aspirant for admission to the MBBS course for the 2024-25 academic session.

This observation came after the apex Court found that the approach of the Respondents, in this case, was "casual" in a case related to the medical admission of a 20-year old student from Other Backward Class with a locomotor benchmark disability coupled with speech disability since birth.

The high court noted the challenge in the matter was over the disability certificate and observed a similar question was previously decided by the high court in a separate matter and relief was denied primarily on the ground that opinion of experts in the field of disability couldn't substitute the court's opinion.

As per the SLP, the petitioner took NEET-UG on May 5 as an OBC candidate, eligible for 5% horizontal reservation on account of being a person with disability. When results were declared on August 26, the petitioner secured 205 marks out of 720 maximum marks, which was above the cut-off marks of 143-127 for the OBC-PwD category. When the petitioner sought his disability certificate, his locomotor disability was quantified at 50%, which is within the prescribed range of 40-80% making him eligible for reservation under 'physical disability quota' for medical education.

The petitioner's plea is that in his disability certificate, he however declared ineligible to pursue medical education on account of his quantified disability and without offering any reasons. According to Livelaw report, the SLP states: "It is most humbly submitted that both the Disability Certification Board as well as the High Court have completely failed to apply the principles of "reasonable accommodation" in the present case. They have made absolutely no effort to explore if any necessary modification or adjuments could be made to see if the petitioner would be able to pursue his medical education with the help of such modification or adjustments."

During the hearing, the bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan directed the officer to remain present before it at around 10.30 am on December 12.

"It is unfortunate that in the matter concerning admission of the petitioner belonging to the persons with disability category, in spite of notice being duly served, none appears," the bench said in its order.

It said normally, the court did not direct the government officials to remain present in the court. "... in view of the casual approach of respondent number 2, we are compelled to direct the personal presence of the Director General, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi in this court on December 12 at 10.30 am," it said.

Also Read:Medical Admission under PWD category: Delhi HC Adjourns plea against Lady Hardinge Medical College

The top court, asked the registrar concerned to ensure its order was communicated to the director general.

To view the order, click on the link below"

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/supreme-court-dghs-264625.pdf

Also Read:HC denies relief to PwD MBBS candidate, says courts can only assess expert disability reports