Minimum Disability Percentage Required for PwD Reservation — CSAB 2026

Under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, a candidate is recognized as having a "benchmark disability" — and therefore eligible for PwD reservation in JoSAA/CSAB counselling — only if their certified disability percentage is 40% or more. This threshold applies uniformly across the 21 disability categories recognized under the Act, including locomotor disability, visual impairment, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, specific learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, mental illness, chronic neurological conditions, and blood disorders, among others.

A disability certified below this 40% threshold, however genuine or medically documented, does not qualify a candidate for the 5% PwD horizontal reservation applied across each vertical category (General, EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST) in JoSAA/CSAB. This is a hard eligibility line set by the RPwD Act itself, not a JoSAA/CSAB-specific rule, so it cannot be relaxed at the counselling stage.

The disability percentage must be assessed and certified by a duly constituted Medical Board notified by the central or state government — typically functioning through a government hospital, a Composite Regional Centre for Persons with Disabilities, or a District Disability Rehabilitation Centre. Certificates from private practitioners, informal assessments, or unrecognized clinics are not accepted for reservation purposes in JoSAA/CSAB, regardless of how accurately they may describe the disability.

Since different disability categories have distinct government-notified assessment guidelines and criteria, the exact method for arriving at the certified percentage differs by disability type — but the eligibility threshold for reservation purposes (40% or more) remains constant across categories.

For progressive or fluctuating conditions, medical boards sometimes issue certificates with a periodic review or reassessment date rather than a permanent certification. If your certificate carries such a review date, ensure it remains valid — not due for reassessment — throughout the CSAB counselling window, document verification, and reporting process. An expired review certificate can lead to rejection of your PwD status even if you were provisionally allotted a PwD seat. For general guidance on certificate timing across all reservation categories, see our page on category certificate validity period.

For a broader understanding of how PwD reservation interacts with your vertical category (General/EWS/OBC-NCL/SC/ST), and how to correctly indicate PwD status during CSAB registration, see our complete guide on CSAB 2026 PwD eligibility.