1. - This writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioners against the respondents on 30.6.2003 with the prayer that by an appropriate writ, order or direction, the condition as mentioned in the appointment orders/letters of the petitioners to the effect that "this will not incur any financial liability upon the State Government and the petitioners will have to work on honorary basis" may be declared void and be struck off and furthermore, the respondents be directed to pay amount of stipend to the petitioner as being paid to the students who are doing PG (MS/MD).

2. The case of the petitioners as put forward by them in this writ petition is as follows :

The Government of India established an autonomous body, which is known as National Board of Examinations (for short "the NBE"), in the year 1975 with the primary objective of improving the quality of medical education by elevating the level of establishing standard of post graduate examinations in modern medicine on all India basis. It was to function as a national resource of imparting quality in evaluation of professional competence in medical sciences. There are more than 135 recognised Medical Colleges in the country and abroad, in addition to over 191 accredited institutions imparting medical education in various levels and in various broad and super specialities. There are 39 medical disciplines identified by the Board for which approved training facilities are available in the country at present. Although the Medical Council of India has laid down standard for post graduate examinations conducted by various Universities and other Institutions, it is felt that the level of proficiency and standards of evaluation still vary considerably in these institutions and universities. Hence, it was felt to set up a national body to conduct post graduate medical examination to provide a common measurement standard and mechanism of evaluation of the minimum level of attainment of the objective for which post graduate degree courses were started in medical institutions. Intercountry and international comparison will be facilitated with the availability of commonly accepted evaluation mechanism.
Thereafter, the Government of India vide Notification dated 19.9.1983 in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (ii) of Section (2) of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956) (hereinafter referred to as "the Act of 1956"), after consulting with the Medical Council of India, amended the first Schedule appended to the Act of 1956 and degrees relating to the NBE were incorporated in first scheduled appended to the Act of 1956.The further case of the petitioner is that they took admission in NBE in different branches in different years and they are working under the respondent No. 4 Dr. S.N. Medical College, Jodhpur and the details of their date of admission, branch, experience and name of hospital where they are working are shown in Schedule-A appended to this writ petition.According to the petitioners, they were duly selected in the course conducted by NBE and they are being given training in Diplomate of National Board (for short "DNB") course and they are working in different hospitals of Jodhpur affiliated to Dr. S.N. Medical College, Jodhpur (respondent No. 4).According to the petitioners, they were required to work practically as full time Resident doctors in hospital and according to their specialization, they will have to do all works as are being done by MD/MS and for that also, the petitioners will have to work for 12-14 hours daily in hospital, meaning thereby duties and responsibilities of the petitioners are similar and equivalent to that of MD/MS doctors in the same hospital.The further case of the petitioners is that no doubt there was condition in the appointment letter/order of the petitioners that the State Government would not bear any financial liability and furthermore, undertaking was also obtained from