New Delhi: The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Bhushan R Gavai and comprising of Justices Aravind Kumar and K V Viswanathan has ordered the admission of a candidate with 44% speech and language disability and has urged the Union government and the National Medical Commission (NMC) to adopt a more empathetic approach towards disabled candidates who wish to pursue a career in medicine. The court emphasised that people with physical disabilities should not be denied opportunities on the basis of rigid rules. The bench expressed concern over the strict and outdated disability categorisation that governs admissions to medical colleges, emphasising that the authorities need to handle such cases with greater sensitivity. The bench said “You should be more sensitive to these issues. If they are fit to pursue their studies, they should not be forced to approach this court.” The court pleaded with the authorities not to rely solely on strict cut-off criteria to prevent able candidates from pursuing their dreams.
The bench was adjudicating a case wherein a candidate with 44% speech and language disability was denied admission due to the rigid NMC rule that prevents candidates with more than 40% speech and language disability from being eligible for medical courses. The Supreme Court had constituted a medical board to assess the suitability of the candidate in response to the petition filed by the candidate. The board’s report to the court confirmed the candidate’s fitness to undergo the course. The bench accepted the board’s report and allowed the applicant to be admitted to the MBBS programme. The judges told NMC lawyer, senior advocate Gaurav Sharma and a lawyer representing the federal government that denying admission to disabled candidates in courses on the basis of inflexible rules may not stand the test of constitutionality and justice.