Education/Educational Institutions:
Admission – Reservation under Persons with Disability (PwD) category – For MBBS course academic year 2019-20 – Petitioners-students denied admission as they were not fulfilling the requisite criteria as per appendix ‘H’ to Notification dated 4.2.2019 – Writ petition before Supreme Court seeking direction to treat them eligible for reservation under PwD category and grant admission in MBBS course – Pleaded that they were not governed by Notification dated 4.2.2019 as the process of selection had commenced prior to the date of Notification i.e. on 1.11.2018 – Held: The relevant date for considering the eligibility criteria would be the date on which admission is sought – The Notification was issued and published prior to date of admission – Therefore, the petitioners-students would be governed by the Notification – Moreover, when the experts in the field have opined against them, court sitting as an appellate authority against such opinion is not justified.
Dismissing the writ petitions, the Court
HELD : The essential eligibility criteria as per Appendix ‘H’ is required to be considered at the time when the candidates were seeking admission in the medical course under PwD category. Even the candidates seeking admission in PwD quota are required to appear before the concerned Medical Board at the time of actually seeking admission and after NEET result is declared. Therefore, the relevant date for considering the essential eligibility criteria as per Appendix ‘H’ shall be the date on which the candidates – petitioners sought admission in the MBBs course under PwD quota. Much prior thereto, notification dated 4.2.2019 has been issued and published and therefore the respective petitioners shall be governed by notification dated 04.02.2019. All the expert bodies including the Medical Board, Medical Appellate Board and even the Medical Board of AIIMS, New Delhi consisting of the experts have opined against the petitioners and their cases are considered in light of the relevant essential eligibility criteria as mentioned in Appendix ‘H’ – ‘Both hands intact, with intact sensation, sufficient strength and range of motion’. Therefore, when the experts in the field have opined against the petitioners, the Court would not be justified in sitting over as an appellate authority against the opinion formed by the experts, more particularly when there are no allegations of mala fides. [Paras 7 and 8] [828-G-H; 829-A-D]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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