DU admission: Students can submit disability quota certificates from private institutes to register

According to the officials, the decision was taken after candidates said procuring certificates from government hospitals, which are treating Covid-19 patients, was difficult during the pandemic.

Delhi University has allowed candidates seeking admission under the disability quota to provide relevant certificates from private medical institutes for the registration process in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, varsity officials said.

Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO

Applicants were earlier required to submit certificates from notified government hospitals.

According to the officials, the decision was taken after candidates said procuring certificates from government hospitals, which are treating Covid-19 patients, was difficult during the pandemic.

Admission, however, will still be granted on the basis of certificates issued by government hospitals and students will get time to get those.

Dean (admissions) Shobha Bagai said since admissions are likely to happen around September, students will get time to arrange for these certificates from government hospitals and submit it during admission time.

“For the registration process, we have allowed students to upload anything they have and at the time of admission, they have to submit documents mentioned in the bulletin of information as per guidelines. In order to ensure a student-friendly process, we also allowed applicants to replace or update the supporting documents within the stipulated time period and without any charge,” she said.

Last year, 27 government hospitals across 11 districts in Delhi were designated to issue disability certificates under the new central Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, for 21 conditions.

Bipin Kumar Tiwari, an officer on special duty at the varsity’s Equal Opportunity Cell, said the decision was taken as a one-time measure during the pandemic. “Preferably, if applicants have any valid government certificate, they should upload that. However, if they don’t have it, they can upload one from a private institute for the time being to facilitate registration at least. During the time of admission, students will have to submit certificates from a government hospital,” he said.

Reacting to the development, disability rights activist Dr Satendra Singh said, “This is the bare minimum that authorities can do for students during such troubled times. Applicants should not be expected to get certificates right now from here and there and the screening of certificates can happen later when they come to colleges. However, caution must be taken to ensure no unfair means is used for fake certificates.”

The university’s admission committee has also allowed all applicants to download and use their class 12 marksheets from the government’s digital document wallet application DigiLocker.

“The mark sheets that are downloaded directly from DigiLocker will be held valid for the purpose of admission,” Bagai said, adding the decision was taken after students had approached the administration.