The Supreme Court on Tuesday said mere existence of
a benchmark disability of 40 percent does not bar a person from pursuing
medical education unless there is an expert report that the candidate was
incapacitated from pursuing MBBS.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai, Aravind Kumar and KV
Viswanathan gave detailed reasons for its September 18 order where it allowed a
candidate to take admission in MBBS course after the medical board opined that
he can pursue medical education without any impediment.
The
bench said the capacity of a candidate suffering from disability to pursue the
MBBS course has to be examined by the disability assessment board.
It said, "Mere existence of benchmark
disability will not disqualify a candidate from being eligible for the MBBS
course. The disability board assessing the disability of the candidate must
positively record whether the disability of the candidate will or will not come
in the way of the candidate pursuing the course." The top court
further said the disability board should also give reasons if it concludes that
the candidate was not eligible for pursuing the course.
It pronounced the verdict on a plea of student Omkar
who has challenged the Graduate Medical Education Regulation of 1997 which bars
a person with equal or more than 40 percent disability from pursuing MBBS.