Imposing mandatory rural service for admission to postgraduate medical courses is arbitrary, creates unjustified reservations, and infringes the rights of qualified non-in-service candidates.

1. In Medical Council of India v. Madhu Singh , 2002 AIR SCW 3742 : AIR 2002 SC 3230 , the Apex Court has, if one may say so with respect, very aptly observed that "when time of admission to Medical Courses arrives, immediately comes to mind Shakespeares' Othello, where it has been written "Chaos is come again". Inevitable result is that considerable time is lost by candidates chasing vires instead of virus". This very aptly applies to the case at hand.

2. The petitioners, who are 30 in number, have preferred this writ petition calling in question the validity of R.6.3 of the "Chhattisgarh Sanatakottar Pravesh Pariksha Niyam, 2002" in short, "PG Rules, 2002" which mandates that completion of two years' service in a Rural Primary Health Centre under the State Government on or before 30th April of the Pre - PG Examination is a must. The immediate effect being that even those candidates who have an outstanding academic career will not be able to take up the Pre - PG Examination in case they have not done service under a Rural Primary Health Centre for a period of two years though they may have been practicing in a rural area.

3. According to the petitioners, since coordination and determination of standards in institutions of higher education or research and scientific and technical institutions is a matter falling under Entry 66 of List 1 of the VII Schedule to the Constitution of India and, the Medical Council of India having framed the Post Graduate Medical Regulations, 2000, the State Government could not, in exercise of legislative powers under Entry 25 of List III (Concurrent), have any power to legislate and provide for an eligibility criteria for admission to Post Graduate Courses as it is an occupied field under Entry 66 of the Union List. It was submitted that the Indian Medical Council Act , 1956 is a Central legislation and the regulations framed thereunder are a complete code which lay down the method that may be adopted for selection of the candidates for the Pre - PG course and the qualification which they should possess in order to make them eligible for being considered. The State cannot, according to the petitioners, fix any other criteria or lay down any other standard, which may have the effect of debarring a student to take up the Pre - PG test though he may be qualified and eligible as per the Medical Council of India Regulations. In short, the case of the petitioners is that R.6.3 of the Post Graduate Rules not only curtails but literally takes away the right of a candidate, who is otherwise qualified under the Medical