Delhi High Court has allowed a student with a hearing impairment to participate in the admission counselling process to enroll for MBBS/BDS courses. The court also called recommendations of the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) “abhorrent to the principles enshrined in the Constitution of India and to the provisions of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016”.

MCC had said that those with more than 40% hearing disability cannot pursue graduate medical education. Once a student with disability cleared the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), he or she had to appear before a medical board, which followed the MCC’s recommendations in granting eligibility certificate to students. The medical board is present in four hospitals—in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.

Justice Siddharth Mridul observed that the Disabilities Act came into being to give effect to the UN Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which India was a signatory. “The Preamble to the said Act does not permit for any deviation from the stated objective, namely, to accord respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy, freedom of choice, right against non-discrimination, full and effective participation in society and equal opportunities in all walks of life… to persons who are differently abled,”

“In this view of the matter, I am of the considered view that prima facie, recommendations of the Committee set up by MCI… are abhorrent to the principles enshrined in the Constitution of India and to the provisions of the said Act,”

The girl had secured 95.08 percentile score in NEET (UG) 2018, but was found to have hearing disability of 70%.