ShutterstockThe Supreme Court has ruled that courts “would not be justified” in adjudicating on opinion formed by a medical board on disallowing a physically challenged student from pursuing a medical course, saying that the expert body alone could determine such issues. “Therefore, when the experts in the field have opined against the petitioners, the court would not be justified in sitting over as an appellate authority against the opinion formed by the experts — in the present case, the Medical Board, Medical Appellate Board and the Medical Board of AIIMS, New Delhi, more particularly when there are no allegations of mala fides,” the apex court added. The candidates had sought admissions to various government medical colleges for the 2019 academic year under the 5 per cent quota for persons with disability. However, it was further laid down that a person with disability must meet the minimum requirement of having “both hands intact, with intact sensation, sufficient strength and range of motion”. In the current case, the petitioners had been declared ineligible for the medical course by all the three forums — the medical board and the medical appellate board of Gujarat and the medical board of AIIMS, whose independent opinion had been sought.

Source: The Telegraph October 09, 2019 23:15 UTC