Pranav Ajit More v. State Of Maharashtra Thr Its Dept. Of Medical Education And Drugs And ORS

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

TRUSHA TUSHAR MOHITE CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION TRUSHA TUSHAR MOHITE Date: 2024.08.13 15:44:44 +0530 WRIT PETITION NO.11111 OF 2024 Pranav Ajit More .. Petitioner

Versus

State of Maharashtra and Ors.

.. Respondents Mr.Anukul Seth, Advocate for the Petitioner.

Mr.Rohan Sawant, 'B' Panel Counsel for Respondent/State. Ms.Sheetal Malvankar, Advocate for the Respondent No.3.

CORAM:

B. P. COLABAWALLA & FIRDOSH P. POONIWALLA, JJ.

DATE:

P. C.

1.

The above Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a direction against the Respondent Authorities to permit him to fill the NEET-UG-2024 Application form in the 85% State of Maharashtra quota under the Persons with Disability (PwD) category, with a further direction to Respondent No.4 Hospital to examine the Petitioner and issue the necessary disability certificate.

2.

The Petitioner belongs to the PwD category and suffers from 40% benchmark disability of low vision, which according to the Petitioner, entitles him to participate in the admission process under the PwD category. At the time of filling up the form for the NEET examination, inadvertently, the Petitioner applied under the OPEN category and not under the PwD category. Now, since the results are declared, he was informed that he cannot, at this stage, change his category to PwD category. Hence, the present Petition.

3.

After hearing the learned counsel for the Petitioner as well as the learned Advocate appearing for the Respondents, we find that in almost identical facts, another Division Bench in the case of Maitreyai Mahendra Garad v/s. State of Maharashtra and Ors. [Writ Petition No.9069 of 2023 decided on 21st July, 2023] granted reliefs to the Petitioner. We agree with what is stated by this Court in Maitreyai Mahendra Garad (Supra), that in matters of education, and particularly educational reservation, and perhaps more significantly, in disability reservation, there should not be this kind of an approach to an otherwise eligible candidate. There is no doubt that the Petitioner will need a certificate of disability from one of the sixteen recognized institutes, of which, Respondent No.4 is one such institute.

4.

Considering these circumstances, we permit the Petitioner to not only apply, but we direct the State CET Cell to permit him to change his Registration and to fill the form in the PwD category and to submit the disability certificate in whatever mode is convenient, within 48 hours of the requisite certificate being issued to him by Respondent No.4. 5.

The Petitioner shall apply to Respondent No.4 by tomorrow i.e. 14th August 2024. Respondent No.4 is directed to urgently assess the Petitioner and issue the necessary certificate. The Directorate of Medical Education and Research ("DMER") will issue the necessary directions to Respondent No.4 to render all assistance to the Petitioner. 6.

The above Writ Petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms. However, there shall be no order as to costs. 7.

This order will be digitally signed by the Private Secretary/ Personal Assistant of this Court. All concerned will act on production by fax [FIRDOSH P. POONIWALLA, J.] [B. P. COLABAWALLA, J.]