Girl with speech disability denied MBBS admission: SC issues notice to Centre, NMC

The top court of India has issued a notice to the Centre and NMC over a plea by a girl who approached the SC after being denied medical admission due to her speech disability.

While under the Disability Act, 40% disability is allowed for taking the benefit of reservation under the Act, despite that, a girl has been denied admission to the medical course due to her speech disability. Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Centre and National Medical Commission on her plea and sought their responses in four weeks.

Advocate Gaurav Aggarwal, appearing for the student told the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli that the student is being denied her right of studying since she has a speech defect which is qualified as per the new regulation under which she can be accommodated in the reservation quota.

"This is a very sorry state of affairs, her one year is gone. Had you come early, we could have used our power under Article 142 and protected this girl. At least, her one year would have been saved," the court orally observed, as reported by India Today.

The girl who had cleared NEET couldn't get the seat because the state refused to admit her under the reservation category.

"The petitioner, despite being a disabled person and suffering from a disability, dreamt of pursuing MBBS and becoming a doctor. The petitioner was allotted a seat in the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College, Haryana under the Persons with Disability category through counselling. But the disability board decided her disability is at 55 per cent and she was declared ineligible for the course," reads the plea.

"The blanket prohibition from admission imposed on persons with benchmark speech and language disability without any reasonable accommodation is an outright disproportionate means to achieve a legitimate aim. The said prohibition, thus, is also discriminatory and stands violative of Sections 2(y), 3, and 32 of the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and Articles 14, 15 and Article 21 of the Constitution," added the plea.

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