SC comes to rescue of MBBS aspirant with Speech and language benchmark disability, orders PGIMER Medical Board to Examine her

New Delhi: Coming to the rescue of an MBBS aspirant who had been denied admission due to her language and speech impairment, the Supreme Court bench directed a medical board of PGIMER Chandigarh to examine her.

With an observation that ''Who knows, someday she may become an excellent doctor,'' the top court bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala directed that the medical board be constituted by the director of PGIMER Chandigarh, including a specialist on language and speech impairment to examine the girl, who is from Haryana.

"The Medical Board, upon examining the petitioner, may submit a report on whether the petitioner would be in a position to pursue the course of studies for the MBBS Degree programme," the bench mentioned in the order.

"The report may be submitted within a period of one month," added the bench while listing the matter for further hearing on March 17, 2023.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that while considering the plea that challenged the 2019 Amendment to Graduate Medical Education Regulations 1997 barring the candidates with speech and language benchmark disability (quantified at 40% or above) from availing reservation and get admitted to MBBS courses, the Supreme Court had issued notice to the National Medical Commission (NMC).

The petitioner was diagnosed with a permanent disability of 'Cleft Lip Palate Repair', a speech and language disability, quantified at 55%. The plea submits that while 50% of the time people can understand what the petitioner is saying, 50% of the time they might not be able to do it. However, it can be cured with the use of computer softwares.

Right to Person with Disabilities Act, 2016 came into force on 19.04.2017 and thereafter experts submitted a report to the erstwhile Medical Council of India (now NMC) regarding the formulation of guidelines for admission of person with specified disabilities. While the report opined that persons with 40% or above speech and language disability are ineligible for MBBS admission, the 2019 amendment to the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997 confirmed that rule.

Also Read: Can candidates with speech and language benchmark disability seek MBBS admission? SC issues notice to NMC

After getting her disability certificate on 26.10.2021, the petitioner appeared for NEET UG 2021 and was allocated a seat at Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College, Karnal, Haryana. However, she was declared ineligible for admission after a disability certificate issued on 14.03.2022 declared her to be a person with benchmark disability.

Although re-verification had been conducted, the disability status of the petitioner remained the same. Following this, she approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court and prayed for relief. She also made representations before concerned authorities. In fact the HC bench had also directed the authorities for considering her case. Despite all these efforts, the authorities only re-affirmed her ineligibility status.

Approaching the Supreme Court bench, the counsel for the petitioner also referred to the fact that the petitioner was denied her right for pursuing MBBS course only because her disability is quantified at more than 40%. The petitioner's counsel also pointed out that the petitioner does not suffer from any intellectual or physical disability.

Seeking relief, the plea also relied upon the top court judgment in the case of Vikas Kumar v. UPSC and contended in favour of 'reasonable accommodation' to persons with disability. Reliance was also placed upon the doctrines of Progressive Realisation of Rights and Non-retrogression as mentioned in the judgement in the case of Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India.

Praying for invoking jurisdiction under Article 142 and allow her to pursue MBBS course in the allocated seat under reserved seats for persons with benchmark disabilities, the counsel for the petitioner student informed the bench that the concerned regulation took away the statutory right of a person with benchmark disability by barring her from pursuing MBBS course.

According to the regulations, a person with disability quantified at 39% or below is eligible for availing reservation. However, for those having disability quantified at 40% or more than that, there is neither any provision for reservation nor for taking admission.

Taking note of the fact that the MBBS admission of the petitioner to the medical college in Karnal got cancelled, the top court bench had earlier observed that the petitioner should have approached the Supreme Court earlier. In that case, the court could have protected her admission by invoking jurisdiction under Article 142.

"You should have come here. We would have passed an order under A. 142 and protected her. Poor Girl lost her admission. I was very disturbed when I read the petition," the bench had earlier observed.

PTI adds that Advocate Gaurav Sharma, appearing for the National Medical Commission suggested the bench that it is not coming in the way of girl’s education in MBBS course but it would be appropriate if she is examined by a medical board to ascertain, whether she will be able to cope up with the course.

Taking note of the submissions, the top court bench noted, "At this stage, before the Court embarks upon the legal issues involved, it would be appropriate to examine whether a solution can be found for the petitioner in a manner which sub-serves the interests of justice."

"We accordingly request that the petitioner may be examined by a Medical Board constituted by the Director of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh1 . The Medical Board constituted by the Director, PGI Chandigarh may also consist of one or more specialists, having domain expertise pertaining to the impairment faced by the petitioner," the bench mentioned in the order