NATIONAL MEDICAL COMMISSION Vs. POOJA THANDU NARESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeals are directed against orders dtd. 29/7/2021 and 20/9/2021 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Madras in the writ petitions filed for quashing the circulars issued by the Tamil Nadu Medical Council on 12/11/2020 and 24/12/2020 and consequential orders of directing respondent No. 1/writ petitioner (For short, the 'student') to undergo two months of Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship (For short, the 'CRRI'), followed by one year of internship before granting permanent registration under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (For short, the 'Act') (now repealed by the National Medical Commission Act, 2019).

(2.) The brief facts leading to the present appeals are that the student and other similarly situated students after qualifying the eligibility test i.e. as per "The Eligibility Requirement for Taking Admission in an Undergraduate Medical Course in a Foreign Medical Institution Regulations, 2002 (For short, the 'Eligibility Regulations') joined medical colleges in the People's Republic of China, such as Qingdao University Faculty of Medicine (For short, the 'Foreign Institute'). It is the stand of the students that they have undergone nine semesters of their academic course including clinical training on the campus. However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the clinical training for the subjects of Ophthalmology, Otorhinolaryngology and Nuclear Medicine in the 10th Semester was done online and that they have been granted degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) after qualifying in all the subjects as per the teaching plan till May, 2020 by the Foreign Institute. According to the student, some of her fellow students have been granted provisional registration by the Tamil Nadu Medical Council but she has been declined such provisional registration which led to filing of number of writ petitions before the High Court. The argument is that since she has been declared qualified by the Foreign Institute, the only requirement before provisional registration is qualifying in the Screening Test in terms of the Screening Test Regulations, 2002 (For short, the 'Screening Regulations'). As she has qualified such Screening Test, therefore, the condition in the statute read with the Screening Regulations stands satisfied. Hence, the decision of the Medical Council not to grant provisional registration is not justified in law.

(3.) The High Court in its order dtd. 29/7/2021 passed the following directions: