The provisions of the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education (Amendments), 2019 issued by the Medical Council of India which is the predecessor-in-title of the Respondent No. 3, to the extent of the disability of the present petitioner for pursuing the courses is violative of article 14, 19and 21, of Constitution of India 1950 as well as provisions of RPWD Act 2016.

JUDGMENT :

G.S. Patel, J.

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and, by consent, the matter is taken up for final hearing.

2. The Petitioner has suffers from a low vision visual impairment disability to the extent of 40%. There is a disability certificate annexed at Exhibit “D” and another at Exhibit “E”. These are not in controversy.

3. The Petitioner completed her SSC in March 2020 and her HSC in March 2022. She desires to study and later practice physiotherapy. She says she is being denied these opportunities only on account of her vision impairment. The contesting Respondent insists that no amount of visual impairment is acceptable for being allowed to study or practice physiotherapy — the extent of impairment is immaterial.

4. The reliefs sought in the Petition at pages 16 and 17 are two. They read as follows :

“(a) Be pleased to hold and declare that the provisions of the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education (Amendment), 2019 issued by the Medical Council of India which is the predecessor-in-title of the Respondent No. 3, to the extent of the disability of the present petitioner for pursuing the courses is violative of article 14, 19and 21, of Constitution of India 1950 as well as provisions of RPWD Act 2016 and further be pleased to strike down the same as stated in the present;

(b) As a consequence of prayer clause (a), be pleased to direct the respondent herein to consider the case of the present petitioner herein on the basis of the performance of the petitioner in NEET (UG) 2022 under such terms and conditions as this Honourable Court deem fit and proper.”

5. Regrettably, though this Petition was filed on 15th October 2022 much time has been lost in gathering material in affidavits, reports and so on. We will refer to some of this material presently.

6. The Petitioner underwent NEET counselling following the 2022 examination. She sought admission to the physiotherapy course. By an order of 20th October 2022, she was allowed to remain present before the Medical Board. On 21st October 2022, the Division Bench permitted the Petitioner to fill in the form for the physiotherapy course and participate in the admission process (subject to further orders in the Writ Petition and without being entitled to claim equities). On 9th November 2022, the Division Bench noted that the Petitioner had been given admission to the physiotherapy course in Nair Hospital. The Court said that until the next date, her admission was not to be cancelled. That order has continued. She is in her first year and is scheduled to appear for the first year examination shortly.

7. By an amendment made by the National Medical Commission, Respondent No. 3, those with a visual disability of 40% or more are set to be ineligible for such courses. We clarify that the entire enquiry has been in regard to Physiotherapy. The field is occupied by a legislation called the Maharashtra State Council for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Act, 2022 (“OTPT Act”). The Maharashtra State Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Therapy Council (“The Council”) is Respondent No. 6, added by amendment. The petition itself accepts that it is the Council that decides the questions of eligibility of admission of the Petitioner to the Physiotherapy course. Factually, following the All India Counselling, the Petitioner appeared before the competent authority and was told that since the Petitioner had a 40% disability, she was otherwise ineligible. The Petitioner submits that Physiotherapy is a paramedical course or an allied health science course or both. The challenge in the Petition from paragraph 14 onwards is to certain provisions of the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education (Amendments), 2019 issued by the then Medical Council of India, now the National Medical Commission. The grounds on which the petition is brought include that these Regulations are contrary to t