Student with disability seeks HC intervention

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, June 6

Nikita Choudhary, a wheelchair-bound first-year MBBS student of Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, has written to the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, highlighting various difficulties being faced by her on the college campus.

She has highlighted the absence of proper infrastructure for wheelchair users. No ramps are available in the academic, para-clinic blocks, library and auditorium. The elevators installed in these blocks often go out of order and she has to sometimes miss classes due to that reason.

A senior officer of the medical college said they were aware of the problems being faced by Nikita. “Lifts sometimes go out of order due to technical glitch or power failures. The college will extend all possible help to her,” he said.

Nikita has 78 per cent disability. She got admission in the MBBS course in 2022 following intervention by the HC. Initially, the college had denied her admission referring to the MCI rules that a student with 78 per cent disability could be enrolled for the course. In her letter to the Chief Justice, she has stated that since her admission, she has never entered the college library and auditorium. Even the para-clinic and washrooms are also not accessible to her.

Nikita told The Tribune that her repeated requests to the engineering staff to repair the elevators have fallen on deaf ears. Even her request for the allotment of cubical accommodation in the college hostel was also denied. She said she needed an attendant to assist her always. It was not possible for her to live in a dormitory without an attendant. Now she had rented a room outside.

As per court order, she said, physically disabled students were entitled to free education up to university level. However, she was forced to pay the admission fee, which had not been refunded to her so far.