Plea against medical boards rejected

The High Court has observed that it could not sit in appeal over decisions taken by medical boards which assess disabilities of differently abled candidates for reserved seats in undergraduate medical courses.

The court made the observation on Friday while dismissing a petition filed by Amina from Kollam, a candidate challenging the denial of her claim for special reservation in the category of Persons with Disability (PwD) for admission to medical courses. A State-level committee had found that the petitioner was eligible for the PwD quota, but not suitable for medical courses. Besides, a report of the special medical board said the petitioner was ineligible for admission to medical courses.

It was argued that the medical boards had exceeded its powers in determining the suitability of students for medical courses.

The government contended that as per the provisions of the prospectus well as the provisions in the Graduate Medical Regulations 1997 as amended in 2019, the percentage of disability alone was not the criteria for determining the eligibility of a candidate for admission in the PwD quota. They should also be found suitable by the medical board for the courses.

The court observed that when competent authorities with expertise had assessed the disability as well as the suitability of the petitioner in accordance with the provisions in the regulations as well as the prospectus and the orders issued by the government, it was not expected to sit in appeal over it.