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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Denied MBBS seat, girl moves High Court

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2148324.ece

Eighteen-year-old M. Vanathi of Dindigul suffers from “congenital absence of left hand.” She has the left arm but no palm or fingers on it. However, the deformity did not deter her from scoring 1,139 out of 1,200 marks in the recently held Plus Two public examinations.

The girl aspired to be a doctor and applied for medical seat under the quota for physically challenged but only to be rejected by the Selection Committee, Directorate of Medical Education, on the ground that people with deformity on the upper limbs were not eligible for selection.

Pained and dejected over the decision, the girl approached the Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday stating that her dream of becoming a doctor would be shattered and all the efforts put in by her to score a cut-off of 191 marks would go waste if she was not denied admission.

The girl claimed in her affidavit that the deformity was in no way a stumbling block for carrying out her day-to-day activities as she had trained herself even to ride a cycle and cook food at home. Her left arm was not numb. She could feel the sensations which are essential for a doctor to diagnose a patient.

Pointing out that she had already been selected for pursuing an engineering course, the girl said that it was not fair to deny her a medical seat without even assessing her capabilities. When an engineering course could be offered despite the disability, why not medicine, she wondered.

Her counsel U. Nirmala Rani contended that exclusion of such candidates from studying medical courses was in violation of three per cent quota earmarked for physically challenged students under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.

After hearing arguments advanced by her, Justice K. Venkataraman passed an interim order directing the Director of Medical Education to keep one medical seat vacant until the disposal of the case. He also ordered the Director to file a detailed counter affidavit.

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