J U D G M E N T

MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA, J : (ORAL)

LPA 457/2024

1. Present appeal filed under Clause X of the Letters Patent of the then High Court of Judicature at Lahore, which stands extended to the High Court of Delhi, assails the judgment dated 22nd April, 2024 (‘impugned judgment’) passed in W.P.(C) 2693/2024, whereby, the Appellants’ challenge to the National Exit Test (‘NExT’) proposed by Respondent No. 2 under Section 15 of National Commission for Indian System Medicine Act, 2020 (‘the NCISM Act’), has been dismissed.

1.1. NExT is a common final year undergraduate examination to be undertaken before a graduate in any Indian System of Medicine can be given a license to practice as a registered medical practitioner.

2. The Appellants herein are students who are presently pursuing their Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) and Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS) courses from colleges located at various places in India. The duration of the BAMS/BUMS courses being undertaken by the Appellants is 4 ½ years, followed by a 12-month internship. The Appellants are students who have enrolled in these courses between 2017 and 2020, with the exception of Appellant No. 2 who was enrolled in 2014 and is still studying. The Appellants were admitted to the said courses after having cleared the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (‘NEET-UG’) and/or State level entrance examinations; however, prior to Section 15(1) of the NCISM Act being brought into force.

3. The Appellants state that BAMS/BUMS programmes were, at the time when the Appellants were enrolled therein, governed by the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970 (‘IMCC Act’), Section 17(1) of which provided that a medical qualification included in the Second, Third or Fourth Schedule to the IMCC Act, would be a sufficient qualification for enrolment on any State Register of Indian Medicine. The BAMS and BUMS degrees to which the Appellants aspire are, admittedly, scheduled medical qualifications.

Theenactment ofNCISMAct and repeal ofIMCC Act

4. The impugned judgment sets out the facts leading to the challenge raised by the Appellants to the requirement of writing NExT Exam, which is not disputed and read as under:

5. On 20th September 2020, the NCISM Act was enacted. It was published in the Official Gazette on 21st September 2020. The proviso to Section 1(3) of the NCISM Act provided that different dates could be appointed for different provisions of the Act and that a reference in any such provision to the commencement of the NCISM Act would be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision.

6. The dispute in these appeals relates to Section 15 of the NCISM Act. Sub-section (1) thereof states that “a common final year undergraduate examination to be known as National Exit Test shall be held for granting of a licence to practice as a medical practitioner in Unani or Ayurvedic medicine and for enrolment in the State or National Register for that purpose. Section 15(3) stipulates that the NExT shall become operational on such date, within three years from the date on which the NCISM Act came into force, as may be notified by the Central Government. Vide Notification SO 2278(E) dated 11th June 2021, the Central Government notified 11th June 2021 as the date on which all provisions of the NCISM Act, except Sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 18, 19, 20, 21, 54 and 55 – which would include Section 15 – would come into force. Thus, Section 15 of the NCISM Act came into force with effect from 11th June 2021.

7. Section 58(1) of the NCISM Act repealed the IMCC Act with effect from such date as would be notified by the Central Government. Simultaneously with Notification SO 2278(E) bringing into force, among other provisions, Section 15 of the NCISM Act, the Central Government, vide Notification SO 2279(E), also issued on 11th June 2021, repealed the IMCC Act with immediate effect.

8. With effect from 11th June 2021, therefore, the IMCC Act stood repea