The High Court on Wednesday told Delhi University to show empathy towards a visually impaired man who could not arrive in time for his MPhil entrance exam as he could not board a reserved train coach since it was locked from inside.
Court observation
“How can you [DU] possibly contest this plea? Be perceived as university which has empathy,” a Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar told DU, which was opposed to allowing the student to give the entrance exam held on July 5.
Next date
The court also asked DU to inform it on the next date how it distributed among various disabilities the 5% seats reserved for the differently-abled category in the MPhil course. The Bench sought this information after Vaibhav Shukla’s lawyer claimed that DU distributed equally among various disabilities the seats reserved for the differently-abled.
Other candidates
The lawyer also said that only three persons, including the petitioner, had applied for the MPhil Sanskrit entrance exam under the differently-abled category.
Two others, who were able to give the test, suffer from locomotor disabilities. They scored only 67 of 400 or 16.75% in the test, the lawyer claimed. DU’s lawyer said an affidavit would be filed with regard to the claims made on behalf of the petitioner.
The Bench, thereafter, listed the matter for hearing on Thursday and asked DU to bring the admission form records of the candidates who applied for the MPhil Sanskrit course in the 2017-18 academic session.
The court was hearing a PIL it initiated on its own after coming across a news report about a man missing his exam as the door of a coach for the differently-abled in Gorakhdham Express was locked.
Railways slammed
The Bench had on the last date blamed the Railways for the man missing his train and told the Railways to treat the differently-abled as “most treasured” passengers.
According to Mr. Shukla, he tried to reach Delhi on July 3 for the July 5 exam but failed to get a confirmed seat. When he reached the station on July 4, the train was running late.
When it finally arrived, the coach for the differently-abled was locked from inside, his lawyer had told the court.
