AP High Court Directs Release Of PwD Medical Student's Certificate, Orders Inquiry Into Alleged Discrimination By Professor
Granting interim relief to an M.S. General Surgery student with 78% locomotor disability, the Andhra Pradesh High Court directed Andhra Medical College to issue provisional course completion certificate and release the original academic documents to enable him to participate in the NEET Super Specialty counselling, earlier denied over lack of attendance.
While doing so, the Court also suo motu impleaded the concerned Professor of General Surgery, who allegedly harassed the petitioner on account of his disability, by repeatedly seeking medical fitness examinations and pressuring him to discontinue the course.
Before Justice Gannamaneni Ramakrishna Prasad was a writ petition filed by a postgraduate medical student seeking directions to Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences and Andhra Medical College to issue his course completion certificate and release his original academic documents.
The court issued a series of directions to preserve relevant records, call for reports, and obtain responses from the concerned authorities. Among the directions issued, the Court ordered:
"Sri R. Kalyan Chakravarthy, Ld. Government Pleader appearing for the Respondent No.2 has now submitted the complaints lodged by the students against...in a sealed cover. The same is taken on record. The Court Officer is directed to keep the sealed cover under safe custody. The Superintendent of Police, Crimes and Investigation, Visakhapatnam is directed to seize the record relating to the correspondence made by...to the Principal of Respondent No.2 and also any other authority with a view to subject the Writ Petitioner for medical fitness/medical examination. The Superintendent of Police is directed to submit the entire record in a sealed cover to this Court through the Registrar (Judicial) within two (02) weeks from today. Registrar (Judicial) is directed to communicate a copy of this Order to the Superintendent of Police, Crimes and Investigation, Visakhapatnam, within two days from today.
The State Commissioner for Persons with Disability, Andhra Pradesh shall submit Status Report on the complaint made by the Writ Petitioner dated 28.04.2025 (Ex. P 7)
The Principal, Andhra Medical College, (Respondent No 2) shall issue provisional course completion certificate in respect of MS General Surgery course and also to release all the original academic documents of the writ petitioner on or before 02-07-2025"
The court also directed the concerned Professor General Surgery, the newly impleaded Respondent, to file Counter-Affidavit within two weeks.
It was the case of the petitioner that despite completing the prescribed working days under PGMER 2023, he was denied a course completion certificate. He further alleged that the harassment and discrimination compelled him to discontinue the course for a few months between December 2022 and April 2023.
After rejoining, he worked even on Sundays to make up the shortfall, completed the course with 62.38% marks, and was consequently prevented from participating in the third round of NEET Super Specialty counselling.
The respondents, on the other hand, contended that the petitioner had a shortfall of 12 working days and disputed whether the Sundays worked by him could be counted as working days. They also questioned whether the leave availed by him could be set off against casual leave.
The Court observed that several issues required examination, including whether the Sundays worked by the petitioner could be counted towards the prescribed working days, whether his leave could be adjusted against casual leave, and whether he had fulfilled the attendance requirement under the Regulations.
It also said it would examine the petitioner's allegations of disability-based harassment against the concerned Professor for General Surgery and whether the respondent authorities had complied with their obligations under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
Pending consideration of these issues, the Court held that the petitioner should not be deprived of an opportunity to participate in the ongoing NEET Super Specialty counselling.
Accordingly, as an interim measure, it directed Andhra Medical College to issue the petitioner's provisional course completion certificate and release his original academic documents on or before July 2, 2025.
It also directed the petitioner to immediately serve notice on the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities to facilitate submission of the status report sought by the Court.
Further, in terms of the undertaking given by the petitioner, the Court directed him to complete the remaining 12 working days after the counselling process.
Case Title: Dr. Lay Kanjibhai Paghdar v. Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences & Ors.
Case No.: W.P. No. 12871 of 2025
Counsel for the Petitioner: T. Sai Surya
Counsel for the Respondents: Government Pleader for Medical, Health and Family Welfare; Tata Venkata Sridevi, Standing Counsel for Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences