The Court of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) has directed Miranda House, University of Delhi, to re-admit a transgender student with a certified benchmark disability after finding that the college’s actions amounted to hostile discrimination and a failure to provide reasonable accommodation as mandated under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
Chief Commissioner S Govindaraj passed the order on a complaint filed by Anushka Priyadarshini, a transgender and intersex student diagnosed with a Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) condition and holding a Unique Disability ID (UDID) certificate reflecting 48 per cent intellectual disability. Priyadarshini had secured All India Rank 10 in the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) category and an overall rank of 2,907 in CLAT 2025 before obtaining admission to the BA LLB programme at Miranda House.
The dispute arose after the student was denied hostel accommodation despite being an outstation candidate from an economically disadvantaged background who claimed that private housing in Delhi was financially unaffordable. According to the complaint, her name was excluded from the hostel interview shortlist even though two seats reserved for PwBD candidates and five discretionary hostel seats remained vacant.
Unable to secure accommodation, Priyadarshini discontinued regular attendance and enrolled in a distance-learning programme through Indira Gandhi National Open University. The college subsequently treated her as an ex-student and rejected her hostel application on that basis.
Aggrieved by the decision, she approached the CCPD through two separate complaints. She also submitted a representation before the National Commission for Women, which forwarded the matter to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The Ministry thereafter sought an inquiry and action-taken report from the Chief Secretary of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
When the Commission had not formally issued its decision, Priyadarshini approached the Delhi High Court. The single-judge Bench of Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav directed the CCPD to consider and decide her grievance within six weeks, following which the Commission delivered its order on June 15.
Examining the matter, the Commissioner held that Miranda House had failed to extend reasonable accommodation, which constitutes a statutory, constitutional and human rights obligation. The Commission found that the college had not shortlisted the student’s name for the initial hostel interview process despite her exceptional merit and performance in the entrance examination.
The CCPD further held that the college’s practice of creating sub-categories within the disability reservation framework for hostel allocation lacked any statutory foundation and was contrary to Section 32 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which mandates a minimum five per cent reservation for persons with benchmark disabilities.
The Commission also rejected the college’s reliance on procedural deficiencies relating to submission deadlines. It observed that the student’s CLAT scorecard was already available in the institutional admission records and could have been verified through internal data mapping instead of being used as a ground to deny benefits available to a candidate with a benchmark disability.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s judgment in Saurav Yadav v State of Uttar Pradesh, the Commissioner noted that Priyadarshini’s overall rank of 2,907 independently qualified her for consideration under the open category, thereby rendering the college’s defence regarding exhaustion of reserved seats unsustainable.
On the issue of gender identity, the Commission held that educational institutions have no authority to question a student’s self-perceived gender identity. It clarified that any concerns relating to credentials or identity records must be addressed through the University’s Equal Opportunity Cell and not by denying institutional benefits.
Noting that the student’s rights under the disability and equality framework had been violated, the CCPD issued 13 recommendations to the college. It directed Miranda House to immediately restore Priyadarshini’s admission to the BA LLB programme without imposing any academic or credit-related penalties. The Commission also recommended that she be permitted to complete the entire course free of cost and be granted hostel fee concessions in accordance with the University of Delhi’s policy for transgender students.
The college has been directed to submit an action-taken report within 30 days. The Commission warned that failure to comply with the directions could invite penal consequences under Sections 89 and 93 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
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