India’s Supreme Court has ordered a fresh assessment of a candidate with disabilities, who qualified the MBBS entrance exam, by a newly constituted board at AIIMS Delhi.
This will be the fourth assessment of the candidate, who has fought against being labelled as ineligible to pursue MBBS by the three earlier boards.
The Court called for a fresh assessment, emphasizing the need to focus on functional ability rather than the extent of disability, in line with its rulings in two earlier cases. It held that denying relief to the petitioner would be “totally unjustified,” especially since the Court had previously ordered MBBS admissions in similar cases where candidates were deemed ineligible under the National Medical Commission’s earlier disability guidelines—now under revision.
The Court has directed the formation of a new five-member medical board, specifying that one member must be a specialist in locomotor disabilities and another a neuro-physician. It has instructed that the assessment be completed within seven days, with the report to be submitted to the Court in a sealed cover by April 15.
The counsel for the National Medical Commission submitted that the process for revising the disability guidelines for admission to MBBS course was underway and was expected to be completed before counselling for the 2025-26 academic session.
“Merely because the NMC is under the process of revising the guidelines, the petitioner’s fate cannot be allowed to hang in a limbo in spite of the fact that he has performed exceedingly well in the NEET (UG) 2024 examination and stood high in the merit in his category,” stated the order.
Kabir Paharia, who scored 91.5% in class X, 90% in class XII, and 542 out of 720 in NEET without a scribe, has a disability described as “congenital absence of multiple fingers in both hands and involvement of the left foot,” with a 42% disability assessment. Despite his achievements, Safdarjung Hospital’s board and two other medical boards determined he was ineligible for medical courses under the NMC/MCI guidelines, which require intact hands with sufficient strength and range of motion for medical course eligibility.
