Quantified disability won't disentitle a candidate from edu admissions: SC

NEW DELHI : In a landmark verdict meant to demolish barriers on entry of people with disability in educational institutions , Supreme Court on Tuesday held that quantified disability per se will not disentitle a candidate from being considered for admission in educational institutions and they would be eligible for admission if Disability Assessment Board opines that the disability won't come in the way of pursuing a course of study.

Rules, guiding admission to various professional courses, fix a benchmark of quantified disability and a candidate is barred from admission if the level of disability is above that. Like in the case of speech and language disability , a person with above 40% disability is not entitled to pursue MBBS study as per Graduate Medical Education Regulations. It allowed a plea of a student with 45% speech and language disability.

Disability board’s negative view on candidate can be challenged: SC
Allowing a plea of a student with 45% speech and language disability whose dream to pursue study in medicine was blocked by the regulation despite cracking NEET , a Supreme Court bench of Justices B R Gavai, Aravind Kumar, K V Viswanathan said merely because of the quantification of the disability for speech and language at 40% or above, a candidate does not forfeit his right to stake a claim for admission to course of their choice. The court granted relief to the student after medical board told SC that his disability would not hamper pursuing medicine course.

Justice Viswanathan said the decision to allow admission or not should be taken on the basis of a report by Disability Assessment Board which will specify whether the disability will or will not come in the way of the candidate pursuing the course. The court said that any decision taken by boards, which give a negative opinion for the candidate, will be amenable to challenge in judicial proceedings. The court said the boards should positively record whether the disability will or will not come in the way of the candidate pursuing the course in question and should give reasons in the event of coming to the conclusion.

Justice Viswanathan said there is a need to have inclusive approach to bring differently-abled persons to social mainstream and give them opportunity to grow their potential to the fullest and reminded that the world would have been so much the poorer if Homer, Milton, Mozart, Beethoven, Byron and many more would not have been allowed to realise their full potential.

Observing that it is the constitutional goal for the State to make effective provisions for securing the right to education including for persons with disabilities, the bench said an inclusive attitude will have be taken furthering the concept of reasonable accommodation recognised in the RPwD Act.