Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
Physically challenged 19 years old Narayan Sahu of village Karatali under Chhatrapur P.S. of Ganjam district defeated his deformities in pursuit of education and made first division marks in the examination of Council of Higher secondary Education. He also bagged ranks in Orissa Joint Entrance Examination-2014 that made him eligible for admission to degree course in Ayurvedic Medical Science (BAMS) or Homeopathic Medical Science (BHMS).
Section 39 of the “The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995” provides that “All Government educational institutions and other educational institutions receiving aid from the Government, shall reserve not less than three per cent seats for persons with disabilities”.
But despite clear availability of seats, he was not included in the qualifying list for counselling to take admission as per his rank. On being subjected P.C.Board investigation at SCB Medical College, Cuttack, he was identified as physically challenged to even greater level as the limit as defined under the guidelines.
Eminent advocate Bibhu Prasad Tripathy has taken up his case in the High Court of Orissa. In a writ petition he has shown that the selection procedure adopted by the Chairman if OJEE depriving the petitioner to take admission in the BAMS/BHMS course , besides being a blatant violation of the established principle of law including the Section 39 of the “The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995” is violative even of the guidelines prescribed in Information Brochure of OJEE- 2014. It speaks of total indifference and apathy towards the Physically Challenged candidates as they have not taken a single candidate from the PC category who had attended the PC Board.
The High Court has issued interim orders for inclusion of Sahu and others in his category for counselling to take admission in their preferred BAMS/BHMS courses, while making it clear that the finality of their admission shall depend on its final verdict.