Grant MBBS Admission to candidate denied due to Short Height: SC tells Gujarat

Ahmedabad: A month after directing the Gujarat government to grant MBBS admission to one disabled student, the Supreme Court has now issued yet another directive ordering the government to admit two other meritorious physically disabled students, thereby providing relief to them.

In view of the fact that the admission processes for the MBBS course have been completed in the state, the direction mandates the state government to admit both the physically disabled MBBS candidates in the next academic session on the basis of their NEET scores that they had obtained this year only. They will not have to take the NEET next year.

The two MBBS candidates, Ganesh Baraiya and Hina Mevasiya approached the SC after the Gujarat High Court rejected their pleas challenging the denial of admission to undergraduate medical courses.

Baraiya’s disability has been adjudged to be 72% because of his short stature — he is 109cm tall. While he looks like a child, he stood tall in the eligibility test, securing at least enough to stake a claim for admission to the MBBS course in the physically handicapped students’ quota. The other student Mevasiya suffers from a disability in her left arm. She had been declared 50% disabled, reports TOI.

After observing the valid relief given by the SC to their fellow Vadodara-based candidate, Muskan Shaikh; the MBBS students, motivated, moved the apex court.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate Medical Educational Courses objected to their eligibility and claimed that with their type of disability, they would not pass the suitability test for medical courses.

Medical Dialogues had reported about all the cases pertaining to these three students. It was reported that these MBBS candidates had approached the HC challenging a denial of admission to medical colleges by the Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate Medical Educational Courses. The admission was denied as the medical board held that they were not fit to pursue the course, having more than 40 per cent disability. A person with less than 40 per cent disability is considered fit for admission.

The government had assessed the degree of the disability of petitioners Ganesh Baraiya, Muskan Shaikh and Hina Mevasiya at 72 per cent, 75 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively.

Their lawyer Rahul Sharma argued that the constitution of a medical board to assess disability violates the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and norms set by the Medical Council of India (MCI). However, the HC rejected their pleas.

Read Also: High Court rejects disabled students’ pleas seeking MBBS admission

Hence, the students moved the SC against the HC order.

Last month, in the case of the Vadodara-based student, the SC observed that the MCI acted against its own regulations for adopting provisions of the law for the quota for disabled persons, and issued a directive to the state government to grant MBBS admission to the student.

Read Also: SC Relief to Disabled Medical Aspirant; Govt Ordered to Grant MBBS Admission