Point of Law: Insofar as Eligibility Certificate is not institution specific and insofar as first respondent has no case that dehors institution in which petitioner has undertaken medical course, petitioner was not entitled to Eligibility Certificate, omission on part of petitioner in not obtaining Eligibility Certificate, that too, during period in which requirement under Section 13(4B) was under suspension, cannot be a ground disentitling petitioner from claiming registration with first respondent.

JUDGMENT :

Petitioner, a citizen of India, born to parents residing permanently in the State of Kerala is aggrieved by Ext.P19 public notice and Ext.P20 order issued by the first respondent in terms of which the application preferred by the petitioner for permanent registration with the first respondent as a medical practitioner has been rejected.

2. The petitioner, after clearing the Senior School Certificate Examination from a school affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, went to the United States of America to do the Pre-Medical course in the University of California, San Diego which is required for obtaining medical qualification from a medical institution in the United States of America. After successful completion of the Pre-Medical course, during September 2013, the petitioner joined Avalon University School of Medicine (Avalon School of Medicine), in the island nation of Curacao in the Caribbean for the four year MD Medical Programme. It is stated by the petitioner that Avalon School of Medicine is a medical institution recognised by the then Medical Council of India (Medical Council of India) and the MD Medical Programme of the said medical institution is equivalent to the MBBS course in India. It is also stated by the petitioner that the MD Medical Programme of Avalon School of Medicine is designed in such a manner that students will be taught the basic science part of the curriculum in the first sixteen months of the programme in the campus of the medical institution and thereafter, they will have to do a bridge course of five weeks in one of the hospitals affiliated to the medical institution so as to enable them to learn the clinical science part of the curriculum.

It is stated that the students will be required thereafter to do 72 weeks of clinical rotations in one of the hospitals in the United States of America affiliated to the medical institution. It is also stated that the curriculum of the course is designed in such a manner that upon successful completion of the course, the students would be entitled to register for the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) which is necessary for practising medicine in Curacao. The petitioner completed the clinical rotations at Phoenix in the United States of America and later graduated from the medical institution on 30.8.2017. She has thereafter cleared the USMLE during January, 2018. Ext.P4 is the certificate issued to the petitioner in this regard by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates of the United States of America.

3. After the graduation, the petitioner decided to return to India, and on her return, with a view to practice medicine in India, the petitioner appeared for the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination conducted by the National Board of Examinations during December, 2017 and cleared the said examination in the first attempt itself. The petitioner thereafter obtained provisional registration from the first respondent on 10.12.2018 and completed the Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship (CRRI) devised by the Medical Council of India in terms of the provisions contained in the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (IMC Act) which was insisted by the first respondent for the petitioner to seek permanent registration with them as a medical practitioner in the State of Kerala. Ext.P9 is the certificate of internship issued to the petitioner by the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi.

4. On the basis of Ext.P9, the petitioner applied to the first respondent for permanent registration with them in terms of the Travancore-Cochin Medical Practitioners Act, 1953 (TCMP Act). Ext.P10 is the application preferred by the petitioner in this regard. Earlier on 20.9.2019, the first respondent issued a public notice to the effect that registration will not be granted to medical graduates who have obtained medical qualification through off-campus education method from any medical institution outside India. Ext.P19 is the pu