Supreme Court Allows Two Colour-blind Students to Pursue MBBS Course

Source – india.com

New Delhi, Sept 26: In a major relief to two colour-blind students, the Supreme Court on Monday directed a Tripura Medical College and Dr B R Ambedkar Teaching Hospital to give them admission to pursue MBBS course in the academic year 2018-19. The apex court exercised its extraordinary powers under Article 142 and passed the order that two students, who are suffering from Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD), should be given admission at MBBS colleges.

The students, who had secured high marks in the entrance examination conducted by the Tripura government in 2015 during the pre-NEET period, were denied admission into MBBS course because they suffered from CVD. Both Medical Council of India and the Tripura Medical College had opposed their admission into MBBS course. However, the Supreme Court opened the doors for the colour-blind students to pursue MBBS course.

“Keeping in view the transcendental importance of justice which is writ large in this case, we direct that the appellants shall be admitted in the MBBS course in the respondent No.2-College for the academic year 2018-2019 and the quote from the said year shall be reduced by two seats,” a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said.

The Bench, also comprising Justices Amitava Roy and A.M. Khanwilkar said, “We may hasten to add that we have used the words ‘transcendental importance of justice,’ as it conveys that we are invoking our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case.”

To know whether colour blindness affects the prospects of students aspiring to become doctors, the Supreme Court on March 23 constituted an expert committee. The expert committee, comprised doctors from AIIMS and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, also took views of amicus curiae, senior advocate, K V Vishwanathan assisted by advocate Shoeb Alam.

In its report, the committee had opined that “Colour Vision Deficiency does not have any embargo of any type whatsoever” and suggested the incorporation of a suitable provision in the Graduate Medical Education to the effect that a person with visual disability of category I and above shall not be eligible to pursue Graduate Medical Education.

It had also recommended that “testing of Colour Vision Deficiency by Ishihara test be compulsorily incorporated in the format of General Physical Examination of the Student, so that all medical students with suspect colour vision should be aware of severity of their deficiency before entering the medical course, and the kind of problems it may pose in the career they have opted.”

The MCI had objected to the admission of students with CVD in MBBS course, in the wake of the report of the expert committee. It had said that certain guidelines are required to be framed in accordance with the report of the Committee for controlling speciality and super-speciality courses as far as the CVD category is concerned.