Delhi HC notice in challenge to MCI notification disqualifying aspirants with 80% benchmark disability

The Delhi High Court today issued notice in a petition challenging the Medical Council of India’s (MCI) notification declaring that aspirants having benchmark disability of more than 80% are ineligible for admission to undergraduate medical courses..Notice was issued to the MCI and the Central government by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V Kameswar Rao..The Court, however, refused to stay the operation of the notification..Assailing the notification issued on February 4 this year, the petitioner, Satendra Singh, has claimed that the decision is “highly irrational, arbitrary and discriminatory.” The petition filed through Advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal reads:.“It is respectfully submitted that Respondents by way of debarring PWBD of more than 80% from taking admission in Graduate Medical Education Programme have not only violated Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India but has also violated various Sections of the RPWD Act – 2016 and more specifically Section 3, Section 6 and Section 07…”.The petitioner seeks a declaration to set aside the notification as applicable to persons having locomotor disability, amputation of a hand, dysgraphia, blood disorders like haemophilia, thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia, and chronic neurological conditions..Relying on Section 3 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the petitioner has argued that the Centre and the MCI have failed to state the “legitimate aim” which they seek to achieve by disqualifying persons having more than 80% disability..It is further submitted that through the notification, the respondents have not only attacked the dignity of persons with benchmark disability, buthave also failed to apply the principle of Equal Opportunity Policy..Furthermore, it is contended that by issuing the notification, MCI has overruled its own recommendation of August 17, 2018, which stated that persons with benchmark disability of more than 80% may be allowed subject to their “functional competency” determined with the “aid of assistive devices”..The matter will be next heard on April 4..Last year, a plea was filed in the Supreme Court praying for implementation of reservation scheme in medical and dental colleges for persons with benchmark disability under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.