NEET-UG 2022: Delhi High Court Issues Notice On Plea By Candidate With Locomotor Disability For Seat Allocation Under PwD Category

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice on the plea of a NEET-UG 2022 candidate with 50% locomotor disability, who was declared ineligible for admission due to disability certificate issued by Government Medical College and Hospital in Chandigarh. The petition seeks allocation of a seat against one of the vacant seats under PwD category in MBBS course.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad sought response of Union of India through Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, National Medical Commission, National Testing Agency and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) within three weeks.

She has submitted that despite getting 42nd rank under the Unreserved- Persons with Disabilities (UR-PwD) category in the examination, she was found ineligible for admission after a Chandigarh-based medical hospital found her disability to be 30% in contrast to the 50% as had been recorded earlier by a medical officer in Punjab. Accordingly, she fell short of 40% threshold which is prescribed for a benchmark disability under section 2(r) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

Pursuant to a court’s order, the petitioner was examined by a medical board set up by AIIMS which found her to be eligible for pursuing MBBS, albeit her disability was maintained at 30%.

In the plea filed through Advocate Rahul Bajaj, the constitutional validity of section 32(1) of RPW Act read with note 3 of the 2019 Amendment has been challenged as being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India as the provisions restrict benefit of reservation in higher education institutions  for persons with benchmark disabilities alone.

In her plea, the petitioner has submitted that the AIIMS Medical Board in its report did not account for her deformity in the index finger at all and only took into account the deformity in her middle and ring fingers, along with missing portion of corresponding metacarpals.

“If the deformity in the Petitioner’s index finger had been accounted for, her disability would have stood at 45%, thereby entitling her to the benefit of reservation,” the plea submits.

The court has directed the Union of India to look into a representation made by the petitioner last month to the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

In her representation, the petitioner requested assistance in gaining a reserved vacant seat and to consider reevaluating the reservation scheme in institutions of higher education with respect to candidates with permanent disabilities less than 40% who are passed over for unfilled vacancies in favour of Un-Reserved candidates without any disabilities.

“The Union of India will certainly look into the representation and will be free to take a policy decision,” the bench said.

The court thus directed that the response of Union or India shall include the comments made on the representation and the decision taken, if any.

The bench also appreciated the efforts of Bajaj, who is a specially-abled lawyer, in espousing the cause of the petitioner.

“The court really appreciates the sincere efforts or the counsel for petitioner who is himself a specially-abled lawyer who has prepared the case so well and is espousing the cause of another person who is specially abled,” the court said.

On Bajaj’s request, the court directed the Registry to furnish copies of all the documents to him in accessible format to enable him to go through the sane and argue the matter on merits.

The matter will now be heard on April 13.