Rarest Of Rare Case: Calcutta High Court Directs Kendriya Vidyalaya To Regularise Admission Of Class 1 Student Suffering From Muscular Dystrophy

The Calcutta High Court has recently directed the Kendriya Vidyalaya, Ballygunge (KV) to regularise the admission of a class 1 student, who is suffering from muscular dystrophy and had been waitlisted since the 3% quota for admission as people with disabilities had been filled for the academic year.

In taking note of the child's rare disability, which was also suffered by his elder brother who was a student of KV,  a division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Supratim Bhattacharya held:

The candidate has been waitlisted for admission in class 1. It is not clear as to what physical disability is suffered by other students on the waitlist, but from the information available, this court has no hesitation that the other children on the waitlist would not have a disability such as the one suffered by [the candidate.] One more important factor is that the student's elder brother affected by the same rare disease has been given admission in class 3 of  KV Ballygunge. The father of the students has given up his job and stays with the elder son till school is over. We are of the view that it is a rarest of rare case where the court can take note of the pitiable condition of the parent of the child. There can be no other rare case as that of the present case at hand where relaxation has to be made in favour of the student.

The court on an earlier occasion had appointed a counsel for KV, who submitted that the quota for PwD admissions was over for the academic year, but the Court could direct an exception while maintaining that there is no concept of 'sibling quota' at KV. 

Counsel for the petitioner pleaded for an exception to be made in the present case. 

Accordingly, in directing that the present order was passed in the peculiar circumstances of the case and shall not be used as a precedent to claim admissions based on 'sibling quota' the court directed the admission of the child. It concluded:

Very few people know about the suffering of persons afflicted by muscular dystrophy which is a progressive disease, and there is no treatment or cure for the disease and it involves the management of patients for the rest of their life.

Case: Muscular Dystrophy Welfare Society v Union of India

Case No: WPA(P) 20/2020