The court affirmed that the UDID must be prioritized for disability claims over conflicting assessments, reinforcing the legal right to reservation for persons with benchmark disabilities.

JUDGMENT :

PANKAJ BHATIA, J.

1. Heard Shri Rajeiu Kumar Tripathi and Shri Diwakar Singh Gautam learned counsel(s) for the petitioner and Shri S.B. Pandey, learned Senior Advocate and D.S.G.I. assisted by Shri Anand Dwivedi, learned counsel for respondent nos.1 to 4; Shri Gyanendra Kumar Srivastava, learned counsel for respondent no.5; Shri Manish Kumar Srivastava, learned counsel for respondent no.6 and Shri Vikas Rai, learned counsel for respondent no.7.

2. Present petition has been filed by the petitioner who is suffering from benchmark disability as defined under the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as "Act"). The claim of the petitioner is that the petitioner is suffering from benchmark disability as defined under Section 2 (r) of the Act which is quoted hereinbelow:

“2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

…

(r) “person with benchmark disability” means a person with not less than forty per cent of a specified disability where specified disability has not been defined in measurable terms and includes a person with disability where specified disability has been defined in measurable terms, as certified by the certifying authority;”

3. It is argued that the present petitioner also belongs to Other Backward Class, for which, a certificate was granted to the petitioner. It is stated that the petitioner after qualifying the CBSE Class-XII examination approached the Chief Medical Officer, Bahraich, an Authority designated under Section 57 of the Act and also empowered from the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India, in whose case, the locomotor disability was assessed with 70% permanent disability in relation to body and leg of the petitioner. The said certificate is on record as Annexrue No.4. It is also stated that the petitioner was issued a Unique Disability ID (for short ‘UDID’) on 07.07.2023 by the Competent Authority. The petitioner, desirous of appearing in the NEET examination, held by the NTA, applied in terms of public notice dated 07.02.2025 and filled the necessary information as contained in the information bulletin. The petitioner claimed the benefit of reservation which flow in favour of ‘persons with benchmark disability’ (hereinafter referred to as "PwBD").

4. It is claimed that after the petitioner appeared in the examination, he obtained All India Rank 997 in the category of PwBD. It is stated that after having qualified the NEET Examination with the rank as mentioned herein above, the petitioner was to appear in the first round of counseling/ registration for U.P. NEET UG 2025 wherein, the commencement of online registration was mentioned as from 18.07.2025 upto 28.07.2025. In the said bulletin issued in the Chapter 3 titled as reservation, bullet point no.4 after Para ‘Kha’, it was mentioned that the disability certificate shall be accepted which has been issued by the centres designated by Director General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi as per its guidelines and prescribed format. In the said brochure which has been filed as Annexure No.13, Enclosure No.V contains the list o