Supreme Court cites Sudha Chandran, Arunima Sinha, Beethoven to bat for rights of disabled

The Supreme Court on Tuesday cited the examples of national and international luminaries in various fields to explain the importance of accommodating persons with disabilities in society and institutions [Omkar Ramchandra Gond v. The Union of India and Ors].

A Bench of Justices BR Gavai, Aravind Kumar and KV Viswanathan pointed out that India would do well to remember her citizens who fought all odds to reach tremendous heights.

"We will do well to recollect that acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer Sudha Chandran, Arunima Sinha who conquered Mount Everest, prominent sports personality, H Boniface Prabhu, entrepreneur Srikanth Bolla and Dr. Satendra Singh, the founder of ‘Infinite Ability’, are some of the shining daughters and sons from a long and illustrious list of individuals in India who scaled extraordinary heights braving all adversities," the Court said.

The Court made the observation in a judgment pronounced earlier today, by which it held that individuals with over 40 per cent speech and language disability cannot be denied admission to medical courses merely based on the quantification of their disability.

After dictating the judgment earlier today, Justice Gavai was heard candidly telling lawyers, "our judgment has Indian names, not just foreign ones."

In the detailed judgment, the Court also noted that the world would have missed out on much if specially abled people like Homer, Mozart, Beethoven, Lord Byron and others were prevented from reaching their full potential merely on account of their disabilities.

"The world would have been so much the poorer if Homer, Milton, Mozart, Beethoven, Byron and many more would not have been allowed to realize their full potential. Distinguished Indian Medical Practitioner Dr. Farokh Erach Udwadia in his classic work 'The Forgotten Art of Healing and Others Essays’ under the Chapter ‘Art and Medicine’ rightly extolls their extraordinary talent, and of the many more similarly circumstanced," the Court said.

The judgment was passed on a plea by a medical college aspirant against a regulation that disqualified persons with speech and language disabilities exceeding 40% from MBBS admissions.

The matter was earlier before the Bombay High Court, which had deferred hearing the matter by three weeks without considering the petitioner's request for interim relief regarding his admission to MBBS course under the 'persons with disability' category.

Aggrieved, the petitioner approached the Supreme Court for relief.

In an order dated September 2, the Supreme Court directed the Dean of a medical college in Pune to constitute a medical board to examine as to whether the speech and language disability of the petitioner would come in the way of his pursuing the MBBS course.

The Court held today that the candidate's 44-45% disability should not be a reason to deny admission. Instead, each candidate should be evaluated individually, it said.

Observing that in case the medical board's report was favourable, the Court allowed the appeal.

Advocates Pradnya Talekar, Pulkit Agarwal, Ajinkya Sanjay Kale, Madhavi Ayyappan, Vishakha Sanjay Patil, Sudhanshu Kaushesh, Shreyans Raniwala, Avnish Chaturvedi, Vibhu Tandon, Anubhav Lamba, Md Anas Chaudhary, and Manya Pundhir appeared for petitioner Omkar R Gond.

Additional Solicitor Generael SD Sanjay with advocates Sudhakar Kulwant, Yashraj Bundela, Kartikeya Asthana and N Visakamurthy appeared for the Union government.

Senior Advocate Gaurav Sharma with advocates Prateek Bhatia, Dhawal Mohan, Paranjay Tripathi, and Rajesh Raj appeared for the National Medical Commission.

Advocates Shrirang B Varma, Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, Bharat Bagla, Sourav Singh, Aditya Krishna, Preet S Phanse and Adarsh Dubey appeared for the State of Maharashtra.

[Read Judgment]