DESH DEEPAK GAUR Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this writ petition, amongst others, petitioner is challenging Rule 9(i)(a) of The Uttarakhand Medical (Ayurvedic and Unani) Group B Service Rules, 2010, which provides that, for Medical Officer, Ayurvedic and Unani, essential qualification shall be Bachelor's Degree from a university established by law with Ayurvedic or Unani Tib., or five years' or four and a half years' Degree from INdian Medical Council, Uttarakhand, in Ayurvedic or Unani Tib. Petitioner has neither of the said qualifications. Petitioner enrolled himself with Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, for obtaining the Degree of Ayurvedacharya (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery), but has not yet obtained the said Degree. Still then, he wants to be appointed as a Government Medical Officer, Ayurvedic, in the State of Uttarakhand.

(2.) SECTION 17(2)(a) of The Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act") makes it obligatory on the part of the State not to permit a person to hold office as Vaid, Siddha, Hakim or Physician or any other office (by whatever designation called) in the Government unless the person concerned, so to be permitted to hold such office, possesses a recognised medical qualification and is enrolled on a State Register or the Central Register of Indian Medicine. SECTION 14(1) of the Act declares that medical qualifications granted by any University, Board or other medical institutions in India, which are included in the Second Schedule, are recognised medical qualifications for the purpose of the Act. The Second Schedule to the Act clearly holds out that the qualification "Ayurvedacharya (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery)" awarded by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, is a recognised medical qualification. Petitioner has not yet obtained the said qualification. According to the petitioner, he has been granted a provisional registration by the State Medical Council, Bihar. SECTION 28 of the Act makes it clear that such provisional registration is granted only for the purpose of permitting the person, who is granted such provisional registration, to complete his training, when training is a part of the study to be undergone for obtaining recognised medical qualification. Therefore, merely because the provisional registration has been granted in favour of the petitioner in order to enable him to complete his training so as to enable him to obtain his Degree, petitioner, in law, cannot be permitted by the Government to hold any office in the Government even for one single day, inasmuch as, the same is barred by law.