Education/Educational Courses – MBBS course – NEET UG Examination 2024 – Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 – As per the Guidelines for admission of students with ‘Specified Disabilities’ under the 2016 Act w.r.t admission in MBBS Course, persons having over 80% locomotor disabilities may be admitted to a medical course on a case to case basis after assessing their functional competence to navigate academic and practical requirements – Vide NEET Disability Certificate dtd. 13.08.24, Medical board at AIIMS, Nagpur assessed the appellant’s disability to be 88% and therefore, held the appellant ineligible to pursue MBBS course – Writ petition filed by appellant, dismissed by High Court – Challenged – Supreme Court directed re-assessment of the appellant by Medical Board at AIIMS, Delhi which concurred with the AIIMS Nagpur Medical Board – However, the Board noted lack of clear guidelines to assess disability with assistive devices in terms of the guidelines – Direction for re-assessment of the appellant for a functional competency test – Appellant was assessed to be eligible for pursuing the MBBS course with assistive devices – Permitted to participate in the ongoing counselling – Appellant sought seat at the college allocated in the initial rounds of counselling or at any college in his home State-Maharashtra:
Held: Appellant was subjected to protracted and mentally exhausting assessments that failed to apply the correct standards, leading to a declaration of ineligibility – Report dtd. 13.08.24 of the Disability Assessment Board of AIIMS, Nagpur quashed as it did not apply the statutory and regulatory standards applicable to the assessment of a person with disability– Impugned judgment of High Court set aside – A supernumerary seat be created at the AIIMS, Nagpur and allocated to the appellant if he has not already secured a seat at a college of his choosing – College be given the report dtd.20.10.24 which makes suggestions as to the accommodations which may be extended to the appellant – Judgement to apply in rem. [Paras 32, 59] Directions by Supreme Court – Admission to persons with disabilities into medical courses – Formulation of guidelines – Inclusion of persons with disability in the medical profession – Constitution of India – Preamble; Articles 21, 19, 14, 15 – Preambular virtue of fraternity; Right to life, dignity, freedom, equality and non-discrimination:
Held: National Medical Council to issue fresh guidelines for admitting persons with disabilities into medical courses – The committee formulating the guidelines must include experts with disability or persons who have worked on disability justice – The guidelines shall comply with the judgments of this Court and contemporary advancements in disability justice – The Disability Assessment Boards shall eschew from a benchmark model to test the functional competence of medical aspirants with disability – The second respondent shall issue appropriate guidelines in this regard – The Disability Assessment Boards shall include a doctor or health professional with disability as per the directions of the first respondent dated 24 March 2022 – Conduct of the Disability Assessment Boards shall be fair, transparent and in compliance with principles of the rule of law – Attention must be paid to ensure that candidates appearing before the Board do not feel uncomfortable on account of physical or attitudinal barriers – Reasonable accommodation is a gateway right to avail all other fundamental, human and legal rights for persons with disabilities – Non-availability of reasonable accommodation amounts to discrimination and violates substantive equality of persons with disabilities – The inclusion of persons with disability in the medical profession would enhance the quality of healthcare and meet the preambular virtue of fraternity and the guarantees in Articles 21, 19, 14 and 15 of the Constitution – Applicants to the NEET examination must be informed about the compliance of accessibility norms and provisions of reasonable accommodation available at colleges – The respondents shall issue appropriate directions to create a database with relevant information on accessibility and reasonable accommodation – Enabling Units at medical colleges shall act as points of contact for persons with disability desirous of accessing clinical accommodations. [Para 60] Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 – Shift from charity based to a rights based approach – Scheme of the Act – Discussed – Appendix "H-1" of the Guidelines regarding admission of students with ‘Specified Disabilities’ under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 with respect to admission in MBBS Course – Purposive interpretation of – Fair assessment of competence – Principle of reasonable accommodation – Functional competency test – Purpose stated – Constitution of India – Articles 21, 19, 14, 15 – Right to life, dignity, freedom, equality and non-discrimination. Disability Assessment Boards – Role; approach – Stated.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Divya Pandey. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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