The Supreme Court has come to the rescue of two differently-abled students by directing the Haryana government to grant them admission in an MBBS course in a government medical college.
A bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Vineet Saran granted relief to two candidates, Parmod and Sachin, and said they should be admitted in a government medical college next year.
Advocate Jeetender Gupta, appearing for the two students, had told the court that they were earlier denied MBBS admission by the Haryana government in spite of the candidates meeting all necessary qualifications and being in the merit list under the physically handicapped category.
The candidates had approached the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. However, the High Court did not grant them admission in MBBS as the seats were filled for academic session 2018-19 and the seats reserved for the physically handicapped category were also converted to general categories and filled.
The apex court held that the candidates were entitled to admission in the MBBS course and have been 'illegally deprived of the admission'.
The bench has directed that the candidates shall now be admitted next year and since the seats for the differently-abled category had been handed over to the general category, the seats of the general category shall be reduced for the next academic session.
"... though appellants (two physically handicapped students) were entitled for admission in the MBBS course, but now as all the seats have been filled, the appellants have been illegally deprived of the admission. As such, we direct that the appellants be admitted in the next year, in MBBS course and in a government medical college as the seats of handicapped have been handed over to the general category, the seats of that category shall be reduced for the next academic session 2019-2020,? the top court said in its order.
Advocate Gupta had contended that the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict of September 5 had failed to grant the admission to MBBS course for academic session 2018-19 under the physically handicapped category in Haryana State Counselling seats despite their eligibility in terms of their rank in National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2018 under the category and as per the reservation policy for such persons.
Parmod has a hearing disability while Sachin suffers from locomotor disability (neurogenic bladder).