Candidates seeking admission to Delhi University (DU) under the disability quota are in a fix as from this year the University will accept disability certificate only from certain notified government hospitals.
Last month, the Delhi government had, designated 27 government hospitals across 11 districts to issue disability certificates under the new central Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, for 21 conditions. These are the hospitals from where the candidates must get their certificate.
Several students said they had certificates issued by hospitals other than those mentioned in the list. “I already have a disability certificate issued by a private hospital but I was told that in order to seek admission under the persons with disability (PwD) quota, I would need to get a certificate from hospitals mentioned in the government list,” said Rohini resident Pankaj Kumar, who aspires to study Political Science (H) in the university.
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“The process to obtain such a certificate from the listed government hospitals may take a lot of time and I do not know what to do in the meanwhile,” said Kumar, who has a hearing impairment.
DU grievance redressal cell in-charge Akhilesh K Verma said that although students had raised this issue during open days, his team had not received any written complaint on the matter so far. “The university is simply following the stated procedure and abiding by the rules,” he said.
Verma said that students could submit the provisional certificates during registration and in the meanwhile apply for such certificates from the listed hospitals. “Grievance committee will take a call on the matter,” he said.
Bipin Kumar Tiwari, officer on special duty at the Equal Opportunities Cell (EOC), said students had approached them to enquire how such certificates are made. “The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act came in 2016. It is already believed that such students will have these certificates by now because this is nothing new,” he said, adding that hospitals should have a uniform proforma for issuing such certificates.
“To get the required certificate, applicants should approach the hospitals on the list with all the documents they have,” Tiwari said adding that the EOC also has help desks to help PwD students so that “they don’t face any inconvenience.”
As per the Act not less than 5% seats should be reserved under the disability quota per institution, said Tiwari. Disabled applicants shall be given a relaxation in the course-specific eligibility in the qualifying examination and in the admission entrance test to the extent of 5%, till seats are filled.