RAJIV SAHAI ENDLAW, D. MURUGESAN, CHIEF JUSTICE

1. This intra-court appeal impugns the order dated 13.04.2010 of the learned Single Judge dismissing W.P.(C) No.2042/2001 preferred by the appellant. The writ petition was filed impugning the letter dated 20.03.2001 of the respondent Medical Council of India (MCI) rejecting the application dated 25.07.2000 of the appellant for issuance of Provisional Registration Certificate under Section 25(1) of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (IMCA) for the reason that the appellant was ‘initially admitted in unrecognized institution’ and was thus ‘not eligible for Provisional Registration Certificate under Section 25(1) of the IMCA’.

2. It was the case of the appellant in the writ petition:

(i) that he had completed his Higher Secondary in the year 1993;

(ii) that he was desirous of pursuing medical career and had applied for and was granted admission in the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia in the year 1994;

(iii) that the said University and the qualifications granted by it are duly recognized under the IMCA;

(iv) that he completed the course in the year 2000 and was issued with the requisite qualification certificate of M.D.;

(v) that during the year 1999-2000, he also completed internship for which he was issued Certificate by the said University;

(vi) that on 25.07.2000, he had applied for registration under the IMCA;

(vii) that the MCI vide its letter dated 16.11.2000 had required him to intimate the period spent in unrecognized institutions;

(viii) that the MCI had sought the said information harbouring under an erroneous impression that the Tula Department of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia is a different institution when it is not so; and

(ix) that inspite of the petitioner having furnished the said clarification and documents in support thereof, the MCI had vide its letter dated 20.03.2001 rejected the application of the appellant for provisional registration as aforesaid.

3. The respondent MCI filed a counter affidavit dated 15.07.2001 in the writ petition stating:

(a) that a number of foreign medical institutions in the erstwhile States of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) were recognized by the MCI but after the disintegration of USSR, it has been observed and found by the MCI that there was a sharp decline in the maintenance of standards of medical education in these Medical Institutions;

(b) that it was observed that these institutions were granting admissions to those Indian students who either did not even pass the 10+2 examination or failed to obtain even 50% marks in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English and / or did not even have a Science subject in their 10+2 examination;

(c) that it was also found that the students were getting admissions in unrecognized institutions and thereafter were getting shifted to recognized medical institutions;

(d) that it was also found that the students were coming back with medical degrees after undergoing five or five and a half years only in the medicine course instead of the full six years;

(e) that the MCI therefore took a decision that those candidates who did not fulfill the eligibility criteria at the time of admission or initially took admissions in the unrecognized medical institutions or did not complete total duration of six years of medical course shall not be granted registration;

(f) that a large number of candidates who were so declined registration by the MCI, have approached various High Courts and different High Courts have issued directions for registration of such candidates;

(g) that the MCI approached the Supreme Court which during the pendency of the matter had stayed such directions and subsequently granted some relief to some categories of students;

(h) that the matters are still pending before the Supreme Court and the MCI will deal with the case of the appellant also in accordance with the directions to be passed by the Supreme Court; and

(i) that the appellant was init