Nursing student affected by colour blindness barred from clg; moves HC

The Bombay High Court Thursday sought a reply from the state-run JJ Institute of Nursing in the city on a petition filed by a student whose admission was

cancelled because he suffered from partial colour blindness.

A bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N M Jamdar directed the Maharshtra government and the authorities at JJ Hospital -- to which the college is affiliated -- to "sit together" and make their stand clear in the matter in two weeks.

The authorities should consider factors such as safety of patients, Supreme Court's past judgements in similar cases and the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, the court said.

 

Petitioner Ravikant Naik, a fourth-year nursing student, had filed the petition through his lawyer Pooja Thorat.

The petition said Naik suffered from a form of colour blindness which causes reduced sensitivity to green light, and he cannot, therefore, recognise the colour "light green".

In 2016, when he was in the second year of the five-year course, the college authorities rusticated him on the same ground. Naik then moved the high court.

The court granted him interim relief and asked the college to readmit him. However, following another medical test last year, the authorities asked him to quit the course.

Naik's petition claimed that his condition was not so severe that he should not be allowed to pursue the course.

The government, however, opposed the petition.

It produced a medical expert in the court Thursday to argue that while it was "sympathetic" to Naik, his condition could cause potential risk to patients.

The judges asked the government and JJ Hospital authorities to give further consideration to the matter and file their reply.

It also directed Naik to inform if there existed any technology or a form of medical assistance that could help him pursue the course without putting patients' safety in peril.