Delhi HC asks Centre to take policy decision on filling up vacant MBBS seats for PWD candidates

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Center to take a policy decision on deputation to fill vacancies reserved for those suffering from “benchmark disability” in medical colleges. At the threshold are Persons with Disabilities (PWD).

A bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma asked the Center to respond to a petition filed by a candidate short of MBBS qualification seeking admission in a medical college against unfilled seats reserved for the Public Works Department.

The petitioner with permanent locomotor disability scored 96.06 per cent marks in NEET-UG 2022 and was found to be below the 40 per cent limit prescribed for a major disability as a pre-requisite for claiming reservation in education.

The petitioner has stated that it is unfair to convert the seats reserved for the differently abled into general category seats and give them to the differently abled.

“The UOI (Centre) will certainly consider the petitioner’s representation and will be free to take a policy decision,” said a bench comprising Justice Subramaniam Prasad.

The court asked the Center to state its position on the representation while filing its reply.

The petition also sought response from the National Institute of Testing and the National Medical Commission.

Calling it a “genuine plea”, the court expressed its appreciation to Rahul Bajaj, counsel for the visually impaired petitioner, and asked its registry to provide the documents in an accessible format to the lawyer.

“The Registry of this Court is directed to provide copies of all the documents in an accessible form to the counsel for the petitioner so that he can go through them and argue the matter,” the court ordered.

Apart from seeking allotment of a seat under the PWD category in NEET-UG 2022, the petitioner assailed the statutory provisions limiting the benefit of reservation to the differently-abled only.

The petitioner said that a cut-off should not be arbitrarily fixed and enforced, leaving the cut-off completely bare and dry, especially in favor of candidates without any disability.