The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Defence Ministry and the Directorate-General of Military Training on a public interest litigation challenging the medical test eligibility criterion in an advertisement for admissions to Class VI of Rashtriya Military Schools located in different States.
Issuing the notices, a Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice A.P. Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar asked the respondents to file replies to the petition by February 16 next year.
The advertisement published in a local daily here for the academic session 2010-11 said only students who pass the medical fitness test would be admitted to the schools at Chail in Himachal Pradesh, Ajmer and Dholpur in Rajasthan, and Belgaum and Bangalore in Karnataka.
These schools are run by the Defence Ministry and the Directorate-General of Military Training.
The petitioner in the matter, voluntary organisation Social Jurist, submitted that the requirement for medical test for candidates seeking admissions to these schools was aimed at preventing physically-challenged students from getting admission in these schools.
Seeking a direction from the Court to the Indian Army to issue a fresh advertisement allowing physically-challenged candidates also to take part in the admission process, counsel for the petitioner, Ashok Agarwal, said the advertisement was arbitrary, unjust, discriminatory, unconstitutional and contrary to the provisions of Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2008.
It was also in violation of Articles 14 (Fundamental Right to Equality), Article 21 (Fundamental Right to Life with Dignity) and Article 21-A (Fundamental Right to Education) of the Constitution, Mr. Agarwal further submitted.
The petitioner submitted that the standard of medical fitness as followed by these schools was such that the children with disabilities would be disqualified for admission to these schools on the ground of disability.
Before moving the High Court, the petitioner submitted that it had written to the Defence Secretary bringing the aforesaid facts to his notice and requested him to modify the said advertisement to make the same disabled-friendly but no action was taken, Mr. Agarwal argued.
