After the Supreme Court allowed medical aspirants suffering from low vision to get admission, the Delhi High Court has cleared the cases of admission of candidates with hearing impairments, specific learning disabilities and blood disorder-related disabilities into MBBS this year. All of these were cancelled earlier on the basis of Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines and faulty medical boards.

A bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice A K Chawla confirmed the admission of a hearing-impaired student to Vardhman Mahavir Safdarjung Medical College under the physically handicapped category. Coming to the student’s rescue, Justice Siddharth Mridul had directed the Centre and the MCI to allow her to participate in the admission counselling process to enroll for MBBS/BDS courses.

In four other cases, the single judge has also confirmed admissions to medical colleges under the physically handicapped category to candidates with visual and learning disabilities, in accordance with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016. The judge had also called the recommendations of the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) “abhorrent to the principles enshrined in the Constitution of India and to the provisions of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016”.

The MCI, through its counsel T Singhdev, had approached the larger bench against the order. The division bench took note of the fact that the Supreme Court had passed the order so it cannot be interfered with. It, however, said that the observation made by the single judge with respect to the MCI’s committee is “deleted”. The Supreme Court had held that the present law did not bar the students from becoming doctors.

These admissions were cancelled in accordance with the MCI expert guidelines of June 2018, issued subsequent to the declaration of NEET 2018 exam which prevented the persons with such disabilities from either pursuing medicine or availing five per cent reservation under the physically handicapped quota. The students, through their counsel Jeetender Gupta, moved the court after failing to get a disability certificate needed for counselling for admission in a medical college.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-high-court-directs-admission-of-differently-abled-mbbs-5333411/