According to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Om Rathod v. Director General of Health Services (2024) and Anmol v. Union of India & Ors (2025), the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was recently ordered to establish a medical board consisting of five physicians, including a neuro-physician and a specialist in locomotor disabilities, for the purpose of evaluating an MBBS aspirant’s disability. In Om Rathod, it was decided that the presence of a benchmark disability would not automatically disqualify a candidate from the MBBS program; instead, the medical board must determine whether the candidate’s disability prevented them from pursuing medical education.

In contrast, the National Medical Commission‘s guidelines in Anmol, which required “both hands intact, with intact sensation and sufficient strength” for candidates with disabilities to be admitted to MBBS courses, were ruled to be arbitrary and unconstitutional. In the current case, the petitioner took the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2024 exam as a SC/PwBD candidate and received a category rank of 176. He has congenital left foot involvement and multiple finger absence in both hands, and he applied for a disability certificate, but the National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines disqualified him.

A bench consisting of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol, and Sandeep Mehta rejected the NMC’s and the Union of India’s argument that the Commission is currently updating its guidelines to comply with the two rulings and that a final decision is only anticipated prior to the start of the MBBS(UG) 2025–2026 counseling session.

Given the ratio of this Court’s rulings in Om Rathod (above) and Anmol (above), it would be completely unjustified to deny the petitioner relief on this basis. Despite the petitioner’s exceptional performance in the NEET (UG) 2024 exam and his high merit standing in his category, we hereby direct that a new Medical Board consisting of five doctors and specialists be established at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. One member of the Board will be a specialist in locomotor disabilities, and the other will be a neuro-physician.

A three-expert Board was established by the Delhi High Court after the petitioner asked it to determine the petitioner’s handicap. The petitioner was found to be ineligible. After the board reaffirmed the petitioner’s ineligibility, a letter patent appeal was subsequently filed before the division bench, which also established a new medical board and dismissed the appeal. Present SLP is in violation of this order. Advocate Rahul Bajaj (Note: Link is to the industrialist as legal profile not found), citing the rulings of Om Rathod and Anmol, told the court that the medical board and the high court had overlooked important considerations like the petitioner’s academic prowess, his NEET exam results, his high merit placement, and the availability of assistive devices that the petitioner could use as a matter to ensure reasonable accommodation.

According to an evaluation conducted by Dr. Satendra Singh, an expert in this field, Om Rathod was deemed eligible to enroll in the MBBS Course even though he was unable to use both hands. With clubfoot in his right lower limb and phocomelia (a congenital condition that results in severe limb shortening or loss of long bones) in his left middle ring finger through the middle phalanx and his right middle index finger through the middle phalanx, Anmol‘s locomotor disability was 50%. Additionally, the individual had a 20-point speech and language impairment. Bajaj said that the petitioner is in a stronger position than the two candidates mentioned above.

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