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2008 DIGILAW 259 (ORI)

Sambit Kumar Mohanty v. State of Orissa

2008-03-28

A.S.NAIDU

body2008
ORDER :- Heard. 2. Both the writ petitions involve similar questions of facts and law and as such on the request of the learned counsel for all the parties, they are taken up for hearing together. 3. The dispute in the present writ petition is with regard to appearing in the entrance test conducted by P.G. Medical Selection Committee, 2008 for taking admission into different disciplines of P.G. courses available in the three Medical Colleges of Orissa. The relevant portion of the Notification issued by the P.G. Medical Selection Committee, 2008, reads as follows : "Candidates who have completed five years of service by 31-12-2007 will be considered as in-service candidates and who have completed one year Rotatory House-manship/Internship Training by 31-12-2007 will be considered as Direct Candidates." 4. It is pertinent to mention here that in these two writ petitions the dispute is with regard to the Direct Candidates. According to learned counsel, the petitioners in both the cases have successfully completed five ears education in MBBS course. A provisional certificate of registration has been issued by the Orissa Council of Medical Registration on 6th March, 2007 certifying the petitioners to have passed the final MBBS examination from Utkal/Sambalpur University held in January, 2007 and provisionally registered with the Council for employment in a medical capacity in any approved Institution of the State of Orissa or in medical service of the Armed Forces of the Indian Union and provisional registration numbers were also assigned to the petitioners. It is further averred that after receiving the provisional certificate the petitioners are now undergoing Rotatory Housemanship/ internship Training as per the assignment made by the State Government. It is further submitted that all the petitioners have completed the said course as on date, but then by 31-12-2007 they had not completed the course. It is alleged that on that ground alone they were not permitted to appear in the Entrance Examination. Being aggrieved, they have approached this Court in these writ petitions. This Court by an interim order dt. 19-12-2007 permitted the petitioners to appear in the Entrance Examination conducted by the P.G. Selection Committee, but then directed the selection shall be subject to result of the writ petition. 5. Being aggrieved, they have approached this Court in these writ petitions. This Court by an interim order dt. 19-12-2007 permitted the petitioners to appear in the Entrance Examination conducted by the P.G. Selection Committee, but then directed the selection shall be subject to result of the writ petition. 5. The grievance of the petitioners is that fixation of the date for completion of the training to be 31-12-2007 and direction that only those who have completed training by the said date would be eligible to appear in the Entrance Examination was not just and proper. 6. After receiving Rule a counter-affidavit has. been filed by opposite party Nos. 1 to 3. In paragraph 7 of the counter-affidavit it is averred as follows : "That in reply to the averments made in paragraph 6 of the writ petition, it is humbly submitted that the opposite parties at no point of time stated that P.G. Medical Course starts earlier in Orissa as compared to other States and National Isnstitutions. In All India Medical Entrance Examination, there is no provision of In-service Quota Seat unlike in the State where the candidates who have completed 5 years of service in Orissa Govt. Health Services are granted the privileges to avail the benefit of in-service quota seat. This five years is calculated taking 31st December, 2007 as the cut off date of the tenure of service rendered so far. If the cut off date is extended to 31st March, 2008, there will be serious dislocation in the examination process as the eligibility criteria of in-service candidates cannot be calculated prospectively. For example, while a candidate has rendered 4 years 11 months and 29 days by 31st December, he/she cannot be considered as in-service candidate by the cut off date i.e. 31-12-2007. If the cut off date is extended to 31-3-2008, the selection cannot be completed within the stipulated time as suggested by MCI. Since, there is no provision of in-service category in All India P.O. Selection, cut off date of 31-3-2008 will not at all hamper the seleetion process." 7. A counter-affidavit is also filed by the Medical Council of India. In paragraph 10 of the counter-affidavit, the said opposite party has averred as follows : "That for regulating post-graduate medical education, the MCI had framed Postgraduate Medical Regulations, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as the P.G. Regulations of 2000). A counter-affidavit is also filed by the Medical Council of India. In paragraph 10 of the counter-affidavit, the said opposite party has averred as follows : "That for regulating post-graduate medical education, the MCI had framed Postgraduate Medical Regulations, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as the P.G. Regulations of 2000). It is submitted that in terms of the Regulation 8(3) of the PG Regulations of 2000, a candidate who has been selected for admission to a PG course is obliged to have acquired his MBBS degree from a MCI recognised medical college and should have obtained his permanent registration with the concerned State Medical Council within one month from the date of his admission to PG course. The relevant portion of Regulation 8 (3) of the PG Regulations of the MCI is reproduced as under :- "Post-graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000. 8(3) Every student, selected for admission to a post-graduate medical course in any of the medical institutions in the country, shall process recognised MBBS degree or equivalent qualification and should have obtained permanent Registration with the Medical Council of India, or any of the State Medical Councils or should obtain the same within one month from the date of his admission, failing which the admissions of the candidate shall be cancelled. 8. In course of hearing learned counsel for the opposite parties submitted that a candidate would be eligible to appear in the Entrance Examination only if he would have completed the course and as the petitioners had not completed their course inasmuch as one year's Rotatory Housemanship/Internship Training being a mandatory requirement to be qualified as doctor, they were not eligible to appear in the Entrance Examination. Learned counsel for the State further submits that State had fixed the date of the Entrance Examination as per the schedule prescribed by the Medical Council of India and it had no choice about the dates so fixed. 9. These submissions are repudiated by learned counsel for the petitioners. According to him completion of course has absolutely no nexus with the object to be achieved. It is stated that except Orissa in all other States the Selection Committee permits the students undergoing one year's Rotatory Housemanship/Internship Training to appear to the entrance examination, provided that they were likely to complete one year training on or before the date of taking admission into P.G. medical course. It is stated that except Orissa in all other States the Selection Committee permits the students undergoing one year's Rotatory Housemanship/Internship Training to appear to the entrance examination, provided that they were likely to complete one year training on or before the date of taking admission into P.G. medical course. Relying upon the prospectus of All India Entrance Examination for MD/MS/PG Diploma and MDS Courses, 2008 published by All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, learned counsel for the petitioners submits that in consonance with Cl. 4(d) of the prospectus a candidate who was going to complete training was eligible to appear the entrance examination. For the sake better appreciation, the said clause is extracted hereunder : "Clause 4(d).- However, candidate, who. after passing the final qualifying examination (MBBS or the foreign medical degree recognised by MCI), is undergoing 12 month compulsory rotating internship/practical training and is likely to complete the same by 31st March,2008 can take up this examination, but he/she shall not be eligible for admission unless he/she has completed the compulsory rotating internship and obtained full registration on or before 31st March, 2008, or the candidate produces a certificate from the head of Institution that he/she will be completing internship by 31st March, 2008. In support of the stand, the petitioners have also relied upon the prospectus of several other approved Medical Colleges. 10. I have heard learned counsel for the parties at length. Perused all the documents meticulously. There is no dispute that all the petitioners have completed five years MBBS course and have passed MBBS examination as would be evident from Annexure 1 series. There is also no dispute that they were undergoing one year's Rotatory Housemanship/Internship Training as per the assignment given to them by the State Government which they have completed as on date, but then fact remains, they had not completed the training on the date when the entrance examination was held. 11. In view of the aforesaid clear position as would be evident from the prospectus and also Cl. 11. In view of the aforesaid clear position as would be evident from the prospectus and also Cl. 8(3) of the PG Medical Education Regulation, 2002 there was no bar for the students to appear in the entrance examination for taking admission in the P.G. studies, but then every student selected for admission to a post-graduate medical course in any of the Medical Institutions of the country had to possess a recognised MBBS degree or equivalent qualification and should have obtained permanent registration with the Medical Council of India or any of the State Medical Council or should obtain the same within one month from the date of his admission, failing which the admission of the candidate would be cancelled. 12. In view of the aforesaid clear and unambiguous provision enshrined in P.G. Medical Education Regulation, 2000, this Court has no hesitation to hold that a direct candidate was required to possess the recognised MBBS degree or equivalent qualification should complete one year Rotatory Housemanship/Internship Training on the date of admission and not on the date of entrance or the date fixed for filling up the forms for appearing in the entrance examination. 13. In view of the observations made above, I allow these writ petitions and direct that the results of the petitioners who had appeared in the entrance examination in consonance with the interim order passed by this Court shall be published and their cases shall be considered strictly in accordance with the Regulations. Order accordingly.