High Court disagrees with “unfair” stipulation made by DME

It is unfair on the part of the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) to state that government doctors cannot apply for admission to postgraduate courses within two years of their appointment even if they choose to resign their jobs well in advance and appear for the entrance examination as private candidates, the Madras High Court Bench here has ruled.

Justice S. Vaidyanathan said that such a stipulation by a government institution might amount to preventing entry of talented candidates in the medical profession especially when “there is a paucity of meritorious and service-oriented doctors in our country and a few doctors had converted the profession into a big commercial arena for minting money”.

Pointing out that all three doctors who had approached the court challenging the stipulation were high-scoring candidates, the judge said: “It is necessary that meritorious candidates are not unfairly treated or put at a disadvantage by preferences shown to less meritorious but more influential applicants. Excellence in professional education would require greater emphasis on merit.”

He rejected submissions made on behalf of the Health Secretary as well as DME that the stipulation had been clearly mentioned in the prospectus issued for admission to postgraduate courses in the academic year 2015-16 and therefore the doctors were not right in filing writ petitions after submitting their applications agreeing to abide by the conditions mentioned in the prospectus.

“Prospectus is only an administrative guideline. It does not supersede statutory provisions… The condition in the prospectus only implies the meaning that the candidates who are in service at the time of submission of application will not be eligible to apply for entrance examination for admission to PG course for two years from the date of appointment,” the judge added.

Further, since the petitioners had already appeared for the entrance examination and also participated in the counselling as per interim orders passed by the court, he directed the DME to issue allotment orders and permit them to pursue the PG courses.