ANKIT SHARMA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, the petitioner seeks a direction upon the respondent No. 2- National Board of Examinations [hereinafter, "NBE"] to permit him to participate in the Post Diploma Centralized Entrance Test Counselling [hereinafter, "CETC"]. He also seeks a direction for allotment of a seat in the Diplomate of National Board [hereinafter, "DNB"] for Family Medicine (Secondary) course on the basis of marks obtained by him in the Post Graduate Diploma in Maternal and Child Health [hereinafter, "PGDMCH"] course completed from the respondent No.3- Indra Gandhi National Open University [hereinafter, "IGNOU"]. An alternative prayer has been made for allotment of a seat in DNB for Obstetrics and Gynecology (Secondary) or Paediatrics (Secondary) course, or a seat in DNB Family Medicine [hereinafter, "DNB-FM"] (Primary) course, exempting him from appearing in the entrance exam, and also from payment of fee for first year, again on the basis of his PGDMCH qualification.

(2.) The petitioner is a doctor, having completed the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery [hereinafter, "MBBS"] degree from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Medical College, Delhi, in the year 2016. He then took admission in the PGDMCH course at IGNOU in the year 2018, and completed it in December, 2019.

(3.) The petitioner was thereafter desirous of obtaining the DNBFM (Secondary) qualification. According to the petitioner, his PGDMCH qualification entitled him to admission in the DNB-FM course as a Secondary candidate. For this purpose, he relied upon a public notice dtd. 31/3/2010,[Annexure 1 to the writ petition [page No. 36].] issued by the NBE, and the "Guidelines for Competency Based Training Programme in DNBFamily Medicine",[Annexure 2 to the writ petition [page Nos. 37-39].] which provided that a holder of the PGDMCH qualification would not be required to appear in the CETC, and could participate in counselling for DNB-FM (Secondary) course.