2004 Supreme(SC) 1415

2005(1) Supreme 265
Supreme Court of India
(Under Art. 32 of the Constitution of India)
R.C. Lahoti, CJI, Ashok Bhan & G.P. Mathur, JJ.
Sanjeev Gupta & Ors. —Petitioners
versus
Union of India & Anr. —Respondents
Writ Petition (C) No. 604 of 2002
With
W.P. (C) Nos. 616/2002, 634/2002, 22/2003, 11/2003, 14/2003, 16/2003, 26/2003, 25/2003, 27/2003, 33/2003, 34/2003, 391/2003, 404/2003, 488/2003, 185/2004, 184/2004, 166/2004, 190/2004, 172/2004
And
C.A. Nos. 7363-7365 of 2004
(Arising out of SLP (C) Nos. 23582-23584/2004)
I.A.No.... of 2004
In WP (C) No. 604 of 2002
All decided on 16-11-2004
Counsel for the Parties :
For the Appearing Parties : Dr. Rajeev Dhawan, C.S. Rajan, Mathai M. Paikeday, A.K. Chopra, R. Mohan, N.N. Goswami, Sr. Advocates, Manoj Goel, Shuvodeep Roy, Wajiih Shafiq, Ms. Suruchi Agarwal, Brij Bhushan, Ms. Malini Poduval, Ms. Lansinglu Rongmei, Senthil Jagadeesan, V. Ramasubramanian, Naresh Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, B.V. Deepak, Mohinder Singh, G. Sivabalamurugan, Y. Arunagiri, V.N. Raghupathy, Ms. Shobha, Gouttam Das, Vishwa Pal Singh, S.K. Sinha, Rajiv Nanda, Adolf Mathew, Sanjay Jain, S.C. Paul, Manoj Kulshrestha, B.S. Mittal, P.N. Puri, Maninder Singh, Mrs. Pratibha M. Singh, Ankur Talwar, Saurbh Mishra, Kirtiman Singh, Angad Mirdha, S.A. Syed, Hemant Sharma, Ms. R. Hakeen D.S. Mahra, Manoj Swarup and Ajay Kumar, A

Important pointTo candidates who have completed medical courses in medical institutions in States of USSR, it is not permissible to grant provisional registration to a candidate who has not undertaken internship at the recognised medical institution abroad without qualifying the screening test.

Headnote:Indian Medical Council Act, 1956—Sections 13(3)—Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 2001—Medical courses in medical institutions in States of USSR—Grant of recognition—After disintegration of USSR admissions of students ran into difficulties—Medical Council of India gathered information that many Indian students who were not eligible for admission to medical degree courses had secured admission in Russian medical institutes through private agencies—MCI passed various types of orders in relation to recognition of degrees—Writ petitioners went to various countries forming part of erstwhile USSR for studying M.D. Physician course which is equivalent to MBBS in India—Denial of permanent registration by MCI—Challenged by filing writ petition—Suggestions made by students petitioners for permitting extra period of internship over and above the normal one year of internship in lieu of screening test—Second suggestion for grant of provisional registration to do one year internship in India without having to pass screening test—Suggestion put forth for exclusion of pre clinical and para clinical entirety from the screening test—Writ Petitions dismissed making observations.

       Held : Under the provisions of Amended Act a student was required to successfully complete compulsory internship of one year after getting provisional registration. The students who applied for provisional registration after 15.3.2001 were required to do one year of internship and to qualify the screening test as per the Screening Test Regulations, 2002. The Government noticed that there are number of persons who applied to MCI for grant of provisional registration after completion of their degree abroad prior to 15.3.2001 but were not granted provisional registration by MCI for various reasons including that they have not undergone complete duration of six years of the medicine course from institutes recognised by the MCI; and those who did not fulfil the minimum eligibility criteria for joining medical course laid down by the MCI at the time of their admission in the medical institutions abroad and those who came back with medical degrees which were not recognised by the MCI. (Para 39)

       There is sufficient and substantial compliance with the provisions of Section 13(4A) of the Act by the Government of India. It is the Government of India which had fixed 15.3.2002 has the date for bringing into force the screening test regulations. Government of India in its affidavit filed in January 2002 as specifically stated that it is the Government of India which had fixed 15.3.2002 as the date for bringing the screening test regulation. Suggestion of the petitioners that they should be allowed to join the internship by grant of provisional registration without qualifying the screening test whereby they can involve ‘themselves in the patient care and management cannot be permitted in the larger public interest. Besides the above this suggestion is contrary to the Regulation 3 of the Screening Test Regulations, 2002 and to the observations in para 4 of the judgment in Medical Council of India (supra). Regulation 3 of the Screening Test Regulations, 2002 provides that provisional registration can be granted to the candidate enabling him to start internship for practical training involving patient care and management only after qualifying the screening test. It is not permissible to grant provisional registration to a candidate who has not undertaken internship at the recognised medical institution abroad after completion of six years of medicine course without qualifying the screening test. MCI is the expert body which can lay down the criteria for grant of the permanent registration to a person to practice medicine and involving himself in the patient care and management. Otherwise also we are not inclined to permit the petitioners to practice medicine overriding the provisions of the Act as the Court has to take into consideration the interest of the public at large as well. A person who is not duly qualified as prescribed by the MCI cannot be permitted to involve himself in public health care and play with the lives of human beings. It is not for this Court to decide as to who is duly qualified to practice medicine. MCI being the expert body is the best judge to do so. After a thorough examination of the entire issue the MCI has come to the conclusion that after disintegration of USSR serious aberrations in the system of recruitment and admission of students in institutions located in Russia, there was a decline in the standards of medical education in these countries. In this backdrop the MCI keeping in view the interest of the public at large and the students passing from these institutions decided that the students would be required to do internship for one year as well as to qualify the screening test before they could be given a permanent registration involving themselves in the public health care. Petitioners are not being debarred from starting medical practice in India but they are merely to undergo screening test as provided in the statutory regulation. The policy decision to subject the students to undergo a screening test has been upheld by this Court in Medical Council of India (supra). The suggestion on behalf of the petitioners that only one paper instead of three with less weightage in the screening test be given to the pre-clinical and para-clinical subjects taught in the initial years of the medicine course has been accepted. The suggestion that the extra internship be provided in lieu of the screening test and that the candidates be permitted to join the internship straightaway without qualifying the screening test cannot be accepted being contrary to the statutory regulations and against the public interest. (Paras 45 to 50)