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The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice on Public Interest Litigation, sought direction to quash the existing rule that only women candidates are eligible for B.Sc (Hons.) Nursing Course in Nursing Colleges run by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi University and the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.
The bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna on Tuesday sought the reponses of all respondents and also noted that an identical matter with similar prayers are already examining by this court. Court listed the matter with pending matter and asked the petitioner to file amended memo in the petition. A plea was moved by the India Profesional Nurses Association (IPNA), a non-governmental registered body further sought direction to the Union of India and the Government of Delhi to consider bringing a fresh rule, which provides that persons of all genders are eligible for admission to B.Sc.(H) nursing courses. The impugned rule is discriminatory and overlooks the fact that nursing profession has evolved and person of any gender can take up this profession, stated the plea. The Plea was moved through Advocate Robin Raju and Aanchal Bumb further stated that the issue in a nutshell is that male and third-gender candidates are made to face discrimination in the admission process laid out by nursing colleges that are affiliated with respondents. The plea also mentioned that Kerala is one those states where Nursing is truly being considered as field where the potential to excel is considered same irrespective of gender. The Government of Kerala has even recently announced reservation for transgender students in nursing courses in the State. According to the plea, "nursing is a profession that has evolved with time and today numerous private nursing colleges across the country is providing opportunity to persons of all genders to pursue nursing courses. The healthcare sector of the country is facing shortage of Nurses and it is therefore important to open the doors of nursing profession to all genders," it stated. "The practice of considering only female candidates eligible for admission to B.Sc(H) Nursing Course is manifestly arbitrary and does not meet the standard of reasonable nexus to object sought to be achieved and reasonale classification based on intelligible differentia imposed by Article 14", the plea read. (ANI)
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