Medical Council of India v. Indian Doctors from Russia Welfare Associations, (SC) BS4310
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Before:- S. Rajendra Babu, K.G. Balakrishnan and P. Venkatarama Reddy, JJ.

Civil Writ Petition No. 2779 of 2000. D/d. 8.3.2002

Medical Council of India - Appellant

Versus

Indian Doctors from Russia Welfare Associations and Others - Respondents

With

C.A. Nos. 2808/2000, 2809/2000, 2811-2863/2000, 2787-2803/2000, 2804-2807/2000, 2810/2000, 2782-2786/2000, T.P. (C) No. 103/2000 and W.P. (C) No. 215/2001

For the Appearing Parties :- Mr. Altaf Ahmed, Additional Solicitor General, Raju Ramachandran, M.L. Verma, Sunil Kumar, Sr. Advs., Maninder Singh, Adv. (NP), Navin Prakash, Rahul Singh, Vikas Singh, Yunus Malik, Prashant Choudhary, Manoj Goel, S. Roy, Brij Bhushan, Ms. Rekha Pandey, Ms. Sunita Sharma, D.S. Mahara, Ramesh Babu M.R., Predeep Misra, Ms. Binu Tamta, Prem Malhotra, Pavan Kumar, Devender Singh, B. Parthasarthy, Alok Aggarwal, Ms. Manjula Gupta, Ashok Kumar Upadhyay, S. Prasad Singh, G. Prakash, Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Surya Kant, U.N. Goyal, Varun Gosawmi, Navin Chawla, Ms. Kirti Sinha, Ugra Shankar Prasad, Manish Mohan, Gautam, K.J. John, P. Venugopal, P.S. Suhdeer and K.J. John, Advs.

Medical Council Act, 1956, Section 13 as amended by Act No. 34 of 2001 - Registration of foreign Medical degree holders - Education - Recognition of foreign Medical degrees acquired from non-recognised institutions or resolved institutions - The amended provision cover the situations by conduct of screening test and issue of Eligibility Certificate by the Council - The guide lines stand approved by the MCI, Govt., as also the Supreme Court subject that the same are by way of one time measure and future case will be governed by the revised Regulations of Medical Council approved by the Govt.

[Paras 4 to 7]

JUDGMENT

S. Rajendra Babu, J. :

Civil Appeal Nos. 2779/2000, 2808/2000, 2809/2000, 2811-2863/2000, 2787-2803/2000, 2804-2807/2000, 2810/2000, 2782-2786/2000

Writ Petitions were filed in different High Courts by persons who had undergone courses in medicine in medical colleges in the erstwhile USSR. After disintegration of USSR, their admissions ran into difficulties either not having studied in recognised colleges or partly in recognised and partly in non-recognised colleges or they had not completed their course in full. The Medical Council of India (for short 'MCI') also entertained serious doubts as to the genuineness of some courses undergone by various students, thus leading to difficulties on the question of recognising their degrees and their registration as Medical Practitioners. MCI took the stand that when their initial admission in non-recognised institution could not be accepted, their transfer to recognised colleges subsequently cannot be of any benefit. MCI also passed various types of orders either during the pendency of the proceedings before the courts or otherwise in relation to recognition of the degrees of registration of such persons as practitioner. The Delhi HIgh Court allowed those writ petitions and granted reliefs to the concerned doctors which orders stood affirmed on appeal, while Allahabad High Court granted interim order, which stood affirmed on appeal MCI in appeal before us.

2. Several contentions have been raised in support of the orders under appeal and opposing them. In fact, this Court also made an interim order on April 17, 2000.

3. This Court, while hearing this matter on different occasions, made the observations in the best interest of all concerned that the Government of India should formulate an appropriate policy bearing in mind the human problem arising in relation to the doctors in question.

4. Now, Section 13 of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 [hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'] has been amended by Act No. 34 of 2001 which would cover situations as arising in the present cases. The Regulations for conduct of the screening test and for issue of Eligibility Certificate by the MCI to the students proceeding abroad for studies in medicine have been approved by the Government of India and sent to the MCI. The MCI has sent the same on 18.2.2002 to the Government of India Press for publication in the Gazette and those Regulations, in brief, provide as follows :-

5. Under the provisions of the Act a person has to successfully complete compulsory internship of one year after getting provisional registration and all persons who applied for provisional registration and have to do the internship on or after 15.3.2001 will be required to qualify the screening test as per the provisions of the Screening Test Regulations, 2002, as they would become eligible for permanent registration on or after 15.3.2002, that is, after successful completion of one year internship. However, the Government noticed that there are a number of persons who have applied to the MCI for grant of provisional registration after completion of their degree abroad prior to 15.3.2001 and have not been granted provisional registration by the MCI for the various reasons, such persons fall into following categories :-

6. In order to regulate the grant of registration to such persons who have completed their degree abroad prior to March 15, 2001, the following guidelines are place before this Court by the Government of India :-

7. In the special features and circumstances arising in these cases, it is unnecessary to consider the various contentions urged on behalf of the parties but, we propose to dispose of these matters by approving the guidelines set forth above in exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution and these guidelines will be applicable to all such persons who are similarly situated whether they are parties before his Court or not. In respect of those who have already applied for registration to MCI, the same shall be granted or refused within a period of 15 days from today in terms of this order. On grant of such registration, the students shall undergo the internship or the housemanship, if needed. It is made clear that these guidelines approved by us are by way of one time measure. Future cases will be governed by the revised Regulations framed by MCI as approved by the Government.

8. The orders of the High Courts shall stand displaced by this order and these appeals shall stand disposed of accordingly. Any proceeding pending in any High Court relating to these mattes shall stand withdrawn to this Court and disposed of in the same terms as aforesaid.

W.P. (C) No. 215/2001

The writ petition will stand disposed of accordingly.

T.C. (C) No. 103/2000

Writ petition filed in the High Court is withdrawn and disposed of in the same terms as aforesaid.

Order accordingly.