SC favours MBBS Admission for student with mental behavioural disability; Dismisses Appeal

Kolkata: Disposing of an appeal filed by the West Bengal Government, the Supreme Court has denied intervening in the High Court order directing the Government to grant admission to an MBBS aspirant with more than 40 per cent mental disability.

With the disability rule for medical admissions sparking controversies every now and then, a case related to one MBBS aspirant came to light in 2018. Despite being a candidate with a mental behavioural disability, he cleared NEET 2018 and got through Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College & Hospital (NRSMC&H). However, he was denied admission over an adverse medical report.

The matter was deliberated in the Calcutta High Court wherein it directed the state government to give admission to the MBBS aspirant in the 2019-20 session in the state-run medical college. They were further directed to pay a compensatory amount of Rs 3 lakh to the candidate.

However, the state still denied MBBS admission to the candidate and moved the apex court against the HC order

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The state had contended the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGMER) report had suggested the candidate was not eligible to pursue the UG medical course and that he suffered from "delusion of persecutions and auditory hallucination".

Further, the state mentioned that experts from the Medical Council Of India (MCI) had recommended to the Centre that a person with 40% or more disabilities could not be allowed to take the undergraduate (UG) medical course but the Centre had not decided anything, reports TOI.

Hearing the matter, the SC bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice M R Shah refused to interfere in the matter and dismissed the petition.

Commenting on the order, Amiya Maity, a former SSKM academic told TOI, "This judgment has a wide-ranging ramification on people with disabilities. Under the 21 disabilities listed under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, a person with over 40% mental disability is entitled to admission to medical courses."