Benchmark disability per se no bar for admission to MBBS, other courses: SC

Mere existence of a benchmark disability of 40 per cent does not bar a candidate from being considered for admission to an educational institution, unless a medical assessment board opines the disability will come in the way of pursuing the course, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

The landmark verdict came from a Bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan, which said if the Disability Assessment Boards (DABs) concluded a candidate won't be able to pursue the course, it should give reasons. Writing the judgment for the Bench, Justice Viswanathan lauded the achievements of persons with disabilities in various fields.

"Before we part, we will do well to recollect that acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer Sudha Chandran; Arunima Sinha who conquered Mount Everest; prominent sports personality H Boniface Prabhu; entrepreneur Srikanth Bolla; and Dr Satendra Singh, the founder of 'Infinite Ability'; are some of the shining daughters and sons from a long and illustrious list of individuals in India who scaled extraordinary heights braving all adversities," Justice Viswanathan wrote.

"We hold that quantified disability per se will not disentitle a candidate with benchmark disability from being considered for admission to educational institutions. The candidate will be eligible, if the Disability Assessment Board opines that notwithstanding the quantified disability the candidate can pursue the course in question," the Bench said.

The Bench gave detailed reasoning in the case of Omkar Ramchandra Gond, an aspiring medical student from Maharashtra who cleared NEET (UG)-2024 but was declared ineligible to pursue MBBS course as he suffered 45% speech and language permanent disability under the Graduate Medical Education Regulations of 1997. On September 18, it had set aside the August 29 order of the Bombay High Court refusing to interfere with the decision of not allowing Gond to pursue an MBBS course and granted him admission after seeking an opinion from a medical board.

It’s the constitutional goal that within the limits of its economic capacity and development, the state was to make effective provisions for securing the right to education including for the persons with disabilities, it said.

"The Disability Assessment Boards should state reasons in the event of them concluding that the candidate is not eligible for pursuing the course," it said.

"Pending creation of the appellate body, we further direct that such decisions of the Disability Assessment Boards which give a negative opinion for the candidate will be amenable to challenge in judicial review proceedings," it said.

The Bench pointed out that the Appendix H-I of the Regulations of 1997, which deals with admission to students with specified disabilities under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act with respect to MBBS courses, provides a "peculiar scenario".

"While people with less than 40% disability are not eligible for PwD quota, though they can pursue the Medical Course, persons with equal to or more than 40% disability are not eligible for the medical course," it said.

"We are constrained to hold that the Appendix H-1 in the notification of May 13, 2019, issued by the Medical Council of India cannot be interpreted to mean that merely because of the quantification of the disability percentage exceeding the prescribed limits, a person automatically becomes ineligible for the medical course," it said.