MBBS Admission: Supreme Court Asks AIIMS Medical Board To Assess Disability Of Candidate Who Performed 'Exceedingly Well' In NEET

The Supreme Court recently directed the AII India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) to constitute a medical board comprising of five doctors including a specialist in locomotor disabilities and a neuro-physician for the assessment of an MBBS aspirant's disability in terms of the Court's judgment in Om Rathod v. Director General of Health Sciences (2024) and Anmol v. Union of India & Ors (2025),

In Om Rathod, it was held that the mere existence of benchmark disability will not lead to disqualification in the MBBS course. It was held that the medical board must assess if the disabilities prevented the candidate from undergoing medical education. Whereas, in Anmol, the National Medical Commission's guidelines which stated that candidates with disabilities must have "both hands intact, with intact sensation and sufficient strength" for admission to MBBS course was held to be arbitrary and antithetical to the Constitution.

In the present case, the petitioner appeared for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2024 examination in the category of SC/PwBD candidate and secured a category rank of 176. He suffers from congenital absence of multiple fingers in both hands as well as the involvement of left foot. He applied for the issuance of a disability certificate, however, he was found to be ineligible under the National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta refused to accept the submission of the NMC and the Union of India that the Commission is under the process of revising its guidelines in compliance with the two judgments and a final outcome is only expected before the counselling session for MBBS(UG) 2025-26 commences.

Denying relief to the petitioner on this premise would be totally unjustified in view of the ratio of this Court's judgments in Om Rathod (supra) and Anmol (supra). 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.

In view of the above, we hereby direct that a fresh Medical Board shall be constituted at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi comprising of five Doctors/specialists. One of the Board members shall be a specialist in locomotor disabilities and one member shall be a Neuro-Physician.

The petitioner had approached the Delhi High Court, which constituted a three-expert Board to assess the petitioner's disability. It was concluded that the petitioner was ineligible. Subsequently, a letter patent appeal was filed before the division bench, which also constituted a fresh medical board and accordingly dismissed the appeal after the board reiterated the petitioner's ineligibility. Against this order is the present SLP.

Before the Court, Advocate Rahul Bajaj, relying on the judgments of Om Rathod and Anmol stated that the medical Board and the High Court failed to consider vital factors such as the academic excellence of the petitioner, his performance in the NEET examination, the high placement in merit and that there are assistive devices which could be used by the petitioner as a matter to ensure reasonable accommodation.

In Om Rathod's case, the candidate despite not having both hands was held entitled to undergo the MBBS Course pursuant to an assessment made by Dr. Satendra Singh, a specialist in this field.

In Anmol's case, he was suffering from locomotor disability assessed at 50% with club foot right lower limb and Phocomelia (a congenital defect which causes severe limb shortening or loss of long bones), in left middle ring finger through middle phalanx with right middle index finger through middle phalanx. The candidate also suffered from speech and language disability assessed at 20. Bajaj submitted that herein, the petitioner is in a better position that the above two candidates.

The Court has directed the board to submit report to the Court in a sealed cover before April 15.

Case Details: KABIR PAHARIA v. NATIONAL MEDICAL COMMISSION AND OTHERS|SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION(CIVIL) NO. 29275 OF 2024

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 406

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