The Madras High Court Bench here on Monday directed Health Secretary and Additional Director of Medical Education to jointly pay a compensation of Rs.1 lakh to a woman doctor who was denied a postgraduate medical seat in 2012 due to failure of the officials to grant her two additional marks for having served in a rural area for two years after completing her graduation.
Disposing of a writ petition filed by her, Justice S. Nagamuthu imposed a cost of Rs.25,000 on the two officials and ordered that the amount should be paid to the petitioner, along with the compensation, within four weeks.
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The judge said though no amount of money could compensate the loss caused to the doctor, the court had no other choice since all P.G. seats had been filled up.
Holding that the petitioner had been deprived of the P.G. seat due to the careless attitude of the officials, the judge said their act deserved to be condemned. “Students who participate in competitive examinations, particularly for gaining medical seats, work hard, study so many books and attend many coaching classes with the fond hope of making it through successfully.
“Therefore, it is very important that merit should be the sole criterion for their selection at the hands of authorities such as the Selection Committee under the Directorate of Medical Education. But many a time, these students lose the chance of gaining a seat in medical colleges due to the negligent and lethargic attitude on the part of the Selection Committee,” he added.
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Though it was represented before the court that the State could be ordered to admit the petitioner, J. Mercy Rumya Florence of Tirunelveli, in a PG course in the next academic year, the judge disapproved of such a suggestion on the ground that it would infringe upon the right of other students who would be waiting with a fond hope of gaining admission in medical colleges.
In her affidavit, the petitioner said after completing her MBBS, she was appointed as a temporary Assistant Surgeon in a Primary Health Centre at Thulukarapatti in 2009 by the Deputy Director of Health Services in Tirunelveli.
After two years, she applied for a PG course and secured 63.36 out of 90 marks in entrance examination.
But she was not awarded two additional marks for rural service.