‘Varied percentages of disability’: HC denies relief to hearing-impaired student

Candidates with benchmark disabilities ranging between 40% and 80% are considered eligible for benefits of 3% reservation for persons with disabilities

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday refused to grant relief to a hearing-impaired medical aspirant who was declared ineligible on the grounds that the disability certificate submitted by him was not reliable.

Bombay High Court. (PTI FILE PHOTO)

Thane resident Farhan Rafiullah Malik moved the high court questioning the February 16 order of the competent authority declaring him ineligible for round 1 of the common admission process for admission to the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course.

The division bench of justices Sunil Shukre and GA Sanap dismissed the petition primarily on the grounds that the three different certificates submitted by Malik showed different percentages of his disability.

Two certificates obtained by the medical aspirant on April 24, 2019 showed different percentages of his disability. While the certificate obtained by him from a private practitioner showed his disability percentage at 35%, the other obtained from a government hospital showed 65%.

“From perusal of all the certificates submitted by the petitioner, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that there is a whole lot of doubt about the percentage of the hearing disability suffered by him and, in these circumstances, we do not think that the order dated February 16, 2022 can be said to be erroneous,” the bench said while rejecting his petition.

The court also rejected his contention that since the third certificate was issued by a designated centre, Ali Yavar Jung Institute in Mumbai, declaring his hearing disability was permanent and fixing its extent to 60%, he was entitled to be considered for admission to the course under the physically handicapped category.

In this regard, the court said, the third certificate was issued on March 8, about a month after the cut-off date for submitting disability certificates for CAP round-1 – February 8. “Of course, this order dated February 16, 2022, declaring the petitioner to be not eligible for seeking admission to the BDS course, has been passed much before the disability certificate was issued by Ali Yavar Jung Institute,” said the court.

Candidates with benchmark disabilities ranging between 40% and 80% are considered eligible for benefits of 3% reservation for persons with disabilities.