The Delhi High Court on February 26, 2019, issued notice to Centre and the Medical Council of India (MCI) in a petition challenging the MCI’s notification which barred persons having benchmark disability of more than 80% from taking admission to undergraduate medical education programmes.
A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V. Kameswar Rao was hearing a petition filed by one Satendra Singh through Advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal.
The Bench, however, declined to stay the notification.
The petitioner assailing notification issued on February 4, 2019, said that “The Respondents by way of debarring PWBD of more than 80% from taking admission in Graduate Medical Education Programme have not only violated Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India but has also violated various Sections of the RPWD Act – 2016 and more specifically Section 3, Section 6 and Section 07…”
Further, it was also argued that the notification not only attacked the dignity of persons with benchmark disability but also failed to apply the principle of equal opportunity.
In its petition, the petitioner sought a declaration to set aside the notification as applicable to persons having locomotor disability, amputation of a hand, dysgraphia, blood disorders like haemophilia, thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia, and chronic neurological conditions.
The matter will be next heard on April 4, 2019.
