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Om Rathod vs The Director General of Health Services & Ors.

Not available · 2024 INSC 836Decided 25 Oct 2024
Not available
Chief Justice Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud · Justice J.B. Pardiwala · Justice Manoj Misra

Background

Om Rathod, a person with lower-limb myopathy (a locomotor disability), scored 601/720 in NEET-UG 2024, securing an all-India PwD rank of 84. Despite holding a valid disability certificate, a mandatory Disability Assessment Board at AIIMS Nagpur certified him as 88% disabled and therefore ineligible for an MBBS seat. The Bombay High Court (Nagpur bench) upheld this certification, so he approached the Supreme Court, which in the interim ordered a fresh assessment by a five-member board at AIIMS Delhi.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that disability assessment for medical admissions cannot rely on a rigid "benchmark disability" model but must instead apply a functional competence test, assessing what a candidate can actually do, with reasonable accommodations and assistive devices, rather than just measuring the percentage of impairment. It found that the assessment process had failed to follow the government's own 2022 circular requiring a disabled doctor/health professional on every Disability Assessment Board, and that reasonable accommodation is a gateway right without which other constitutional guarantees for persons with disabilities become meaningless. The Court directed that a supernumerary MBBS seat be created for Rathod at AIIMS Nagpur, protected him from victimisation, and ordered the government to overhaul disability assessment guidelines nationally, including mandating disabled experts on assessment boards.

Lesson Learnt

Disability certification for professional/educational admissions must assess a person's actual functional ability to perform the course (with reasonable accommodations), not just apply a mechanical disability-percentage cut-off, and denial of reasonable accommodation itself amounts to unconstitutional discrimination.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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