## **IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM**
## **PRESENT:**
## **THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE T.R.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR**
**TUESDAY, THE 20TH DAY OF NOVEMBER 2012/29TH KARTHIKA 1934**
**WP(C).No. 24138 of 2011 (N) ---------------------------**
**PETITIONER(S):**
**-------------**
**1. DR.SHINAZ SADIQ, S/O.K.A.MOHAMMED SADIQ, RESIDING AT NIMITHA 3RD MILE STONE, KOLLAM-4.**
## **2. DR.REMYA PRAKASH,**
**D/O.K.P.PRAKASH, RESIDING AT CHIDAMBARAM, HARTHAGIRI KANJIRAMPARA P.O., THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-30.**
## **3. DR.SANDEEP P.,**
**S/O.DR.K.PADMANABHAN, RESIDING AT SOUPARNIKA SRINGAPURAM, KODUNGALLUR-680664.**
**BY ADVS.SRI.K.GOPALAKRISHNA KURUP (SR.) SRI.S.MANU SMT.K.DEEPA (PAYYANUR)**
**RESPONDENT(S):**
**--------------**
**1. STATE OF KERALA, REP. BY ITS SECRETARY**
**HEALTH FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-1.**
**2. DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL EDUCATION, DIRECTORATE OF MEDICAL EDUCATION THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695011.**
**3. THE PRINCIPAL, MEDICAL COLLEGE, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-675011.**
**4. MEDICAL COUNCIL OF INDIA, REP. BY ITS SECRETARY, POCKET-14, SECTOR 8 DWARAKA, NEW DELHI-110077.**
**5. KERALA UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES, REP. BY ITS REGISTRAR, THRISSUR-680001. R4 BY ADV. SRI.ALEXANDER THOMAS, SC, MCI R5 BY ADV. SRI.P.SREEKUMAR,SC,KERALA UTY.HEALTH SCIENCE R1-R3 BY GOVERNMENT PLEADER SMT. SANJEETHA**
**THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 20-11-2012, ALONG WITH WPC. 25897/2011 AND CONNECTED CASES, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:**
**WP(C).No. 24138 of 2011 (N)**
## **APPENDIX**
## **PETITIONER(S) EXHIBITS:**
- **EXT.P1 TRUE COPY OF THE POST GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION REGULATION 2000 ISSUED BY THE MEDICAL COUNCIL OF INDIA.**
- **EXT.P2 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER NO.B2/20694/11/DME DATED 29/8/2011 BY THE 2ND RESPONDENT.**
- **EXT.P3 TRUE COPY OF THE PROCEEDING OF THE VICE PRINCIPAL, MEDICAL COLLEGE HOSPITAL, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM.**
- **EXT.P4 TRUE COPY OF THE LETTER WRITTEN BY THE PROFESSOR AND HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT PEDIATRIC SURGERY, MEDICAL COLLEGE, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, ADDRESSED TO THE IST RESPONDENT.**
## **RESPONDENTS' EXHIBITS: NIL**
## **//TRUE COPY//**
**P.A. TO JUDGE**
**ds**
## **T.R.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR, J.**
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## **W.P.(C).Nos. 24138, 24626, 24705, 24798, 24853, 25897 & 32281 of 2011**
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## **DATED THIS THE 20TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2012**
## **JUDGMENT**
These writ petitions have been filed by the petitioners who are students of Super Speciality Courses, aggrieved by the direction issued by the Government in temporarily posting them to Medical College, Alappuzha as well as Medical College, Thrissur. W.P.(C) Nos.24138, 24626, 24798, 25897 and 32281 of 2012 are filed the respective petitioners challenging the orders temporarily posting them from the Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram to Medical College, Alappuzha. W.P.(C) Nos.24705 and 24853/2011 are filed by the petitioners who have been posted temporarily from Medical College, Calicut to Medical College, Thrissur.
2. I shall refer to the relevant facts contained in W.P.(C) No.24138/2011. The petitioners therein are students undergoing Post Graduate Courses in Super Specialities in Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. They were selected and admitted to the courses in 2010 after qualifying themselves in the Entrance Examination. They had joined in different Specialities after allotment in Thiruvananthapuram Medical
W.P.(C).No.24138/11, etc.
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College.
3. Ext.P2 is the order impugned, wherein it is mentioned that the petitioners are temporarily posted to Medical College, Alappuzha as part of clinical training for three months on rotation basis. The petitioners point out that there is clear prohibition against it under the relevant clauses in the Post Graduate Medical Regulations 2000. It is also pointed out that Alappuzha Medical College is not a recognised institution for Post Graduate Super Speciality Courses and the said College has no infrastructural facilities or faculty as prescribed by the Medical Council of India. Thus, it is pointed out that for clinical training they have been posted in an unrecognised and unauthorised centre which is not included in the prospectus for the year 2010. The petitioners are relying upon clauses 10 and 13 of Ext.P1 Regulations. In the said Regulations, there is a specific clause under the heading “Migration”, which according to the petitioners, cuts at the root of the matter.
4. The petitioners in W.P.(C) Nos.24626, 24798, 25897 and 32281/2011 are also similarly placed.
5. In W.P.(C) No.24705/2011 the impugned communication is Ext.P1. Therein also the petitioners have been posted for a period of three
W.P.(C).No.24138/11, etc.
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months on temporary rotation basis to the Medical College, Thrissur. Similar are the facts in W.P.(C) No.24853/2011.
6. The Medical Council of India in their counter affidavit, has taken the stand that the order issued by the Government clearly violates the Regulations which have statutory force in the light of various decisions of the Apex Court. It is pointed out that the Regulations are framed by the Medical Council of India under Section 33 of the Act with the prior approval of the Central Government. In the light of the decisions of the Apex Court in **MCI v. State of Karnataka** [(1998) 6 SCC 131] and **Dr. Preeti Srivastava v. State of M.P. and others** [(1999) 7 SCC 120], they are statutory in character. In para 10 of the writ petition, clause 10 of the Regulations is extracted and the prohibitory clause restraining transfer is given emphasis. Clause 13(2) is also relied upon which reads as follows:
“13. Training Programme (1)xxxx
(2) All candidates joining the Post Graduate training programme shall work as 'Full Time Residents' during the period of training; and shall attend not less than 80% (Eighty percent) of the imparted training during each academic year including assignments, assessed full time responsibilities and participation in
W.P.(C).No.24138/11, etc.
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all facets of the educational process.....”
It is pointed out that in the light of the above clause also, the candidates will have to work as full time residents during the period of training, viz. practical clinical training which cannot be curtailed also. With regard to Alappuzha Medical College, it is explained in the counter affidavit that the same is not recognised for Super Speciality courses. All the admissions in any medical college in Post Graduate Super Speciality Course will have to be done only in terms of the MCI Post Graduate Regulations 2000 and any admission without fulfilling the minimum eligibility criteria cannot be countenanced at all.
7. In the counter affidavit filed by the Director of Medical Education in W.P.(C) No.24705/2011, justification is sought on the plea that the overcrowding of patients and lack of doctors at the Medical Colleges at Alappuzha and Thrissur prompted the said authority to take a decision to post doctors who are undergoing Post Graduate Super Speciality Courses at Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram to Medical College, Alappuzha and from Medical College, Kozhikode to Medical College, Thrissur for undergoing clinical training for three months with a view to enhance their experience and academic value and that too on a rotation basis. It is
W.P.(C).No.24138/11, etc.
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submitted that the same does not violate any of the prescribed norms of the Medical Council of India and the real beneficiaries will be the poor patients. It is also stated in para 5 that they are also not posted permanently in a particular station and are transferred to other Medical Colleges where no Post Graduate Super Speciality courses are started and by such deployment they will get better exposure to hands-on training.
8. It is clear that the matter is governed by the relevant clauses of the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations 2000. In the light of the prohibitory clause contained in clause 10 that “under no circumstances, Migration/transfer of student undergoing any Post Graduate Degree/Diploma/Super Speciality course shall be permitted by any University/Authority,” the impugned orders cannot be supported. As rightly pointed out by the Medical Council of India in their counter affidavit, these regulations are statutory in nature which cannot be violated under any circumstances. In the light of clause 13.2 all the candidates joining the Post Graduate training programme shall work as full time residents during the period of training. Therefore, read with the relevant clauses in Section 10 that students undergoing Post Graduate Training course shall not be transferred, the idea is very clear that they will have to be continued in the
W.P.(C).No.24138/11, etc.
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College which they have been allotted. Apart from that, what is shown as a reason is by way of temporary posting for a period of three months, that too on rotation basis which has no statutory support from the Regulations Ext.P1. For the sole reason, the said orders cannot be supported.
9. In all these writ petitions, interim orders have been in force and therefore the impugned orders have not been implemented also.
In the light of the above, the writ petitions are allowed quashing the impugned orders. No costs.
## **(T.R.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR, JUDGE)**
## **kav/**
