Refusing to meddle with rules framed by the Medical Council of India, the Delhi High Court has declined the plea of an MBBS aspirant, with 85% disability, challenging regulations that bar persons suffering from locomotor disability in excess of 80% to be eligible for admission in medicine course.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice C. Hari Shankar said they are unable to come to the aid of Rakshit Yadav, who had successfully cleared the NEET-UG 2019 examination.
Mr. Yadav, who belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC), had sought admission in the MBBS course in University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS), under the Persons with Disability (PWD) quota.
As per MCI’s rules, a candidate needs to obtain two Disability Certificates before being allowed to join the MBBS course under the PWD category.
In the first instance, all candidates, who consider themselves eligible for admission under the PWD category, are required to get themselves examined at any government medical college, district hospital or government hospital.
Thereafter, in case of their selection under the PWD category, the candidates are required to produce a disability certificate from a Disability Assessment Board.
In view of the requirements, Mr. Yadav approached the Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjang (VMMC) Hospital, which certified that he was suffering from ‘Post Encepliolitis Sequalae with weakness of left upper limb”, to the extent of 85%.
As the extent of disability was certified as more than 80%, he was made ineligible for admission to medical/dental courses, as per the MCI guidelines.
In his plea, Mr. Yadav had sought that the Disability Certificate issued by VMMC Hospital be quashed.
Medical authority
The HC, however, said that no court of law can quash a Disability Certificate issued by a competent medical authority. Mr. Yadav had also sought for a medical board be constituted to examine the extent of his disability. The HC then constituted a medical board at the AIIMS, which also opined against Mr. Yadav’s entitlement to undertake the MBBS course.
The High Court further declined to strike down MCI’s First Amendment Regulations, and the Second Amendment Regulations which mandate that only persons suffering from disability, between 40% and 80% were eligible for the benefit of PWD category.
‘Best interest in mind’
“While we do not intend, in any manner, to doubt the capability of the petitioner (Mr. Yadav), and appreciate his achievements, despite his unfortunate physical limitations, the standards set by the regulations framed by the MCI, are set by experts, keeping the best interests of the man who treats, as well as the man who is treated, in mind,” the Bench remarked.
“In matters involving medical education, courts are required to exercise a considerably greater degree of circumspection. The element of public interest, which is pre-eminent in such cases, can never be ignored... We cannot profess to greater wisdom than the framers of the said regulations.” it said.
