HC issues notice to disabled youth who missed exam

The Delhi High Court today issued notice to a visually-impaired youth who had missed his MPhil entrance examination at Delhi University after he failed to board the train to reach the capital on July 24.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar sought his presence on that day and wished to know from him the reason behind him missing the examination.
The court issued the direction after the varsity informed it that the student Vaibhav Shukla was supposed to reach the examination centre in Delhi at 7 am, but he had reached the Unnao railway station on the same day at 2:15 pm to catch a train to the national capital.

The DU's lawyer said there were hundreds of such other cases which occur every day.
The bench told him that such arguments do not impress the court and asked the university to produce a list of candidates, who appeared for MPhil Sanskrit exam under the disabled category.
It also directed the Delhi University to examine the possibility of conducting an examination for Vaibhav Shukla to enable him to secure admission, if he qualified.

The high court on its own had initiated a PIL on the issue after coming across a news report that the door of a special compartment for disabled in the Gorakhdham Express was shut, leading the youth to miss his MPhil test.

It was shocked over complete apathy of the Railways in treating its physically challenged passengers by placing the compartments for the disabled at ends and providing little or no help for access.
The court had also said it would explore the possibility of compensation for Shukla "who has undergone so much trauma for the callous disregard of his rights".