The Delhi High Court has dismissed a challenge to a National Medical Commission regulation prescribing a maximum of four attempts for a medical student to clear the first year of the MBBS course.
Observing that medicine is a noble profession and doctors serve the general public at large, a bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said the rules must ensure only individuals with inclination and requisite calibre are made medical professionals.
The regulation capping the attempts at four, the court ruled, is not arbitrary and a candidate does not have the right to take an examination for any number of times.
“Considering that medicine is a noble profession, and that a doctor serves the general public at large, the Government must have rules and regulations that ensure that only individuals with the inclination coupled with the requisite calibre are made medical professionals,” said the bench, also comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad, in the order dated November 17.
The court’s order came on petitions by some MBBS students who had exhausted their four attempts and sought another chance to take the examinations.
The petitioners challenged Regulation 7.7 of ‘Regulations on Graduate Medical Education (Amendment), 2019’ on the ground that it cannot not be applied retrospectively as they had enrolled in their respective medical colleges prior to its issuance.
The NMC, represented by lawyer T Singhdev, said the regulation was introduced to ensure that only students with adequate aptitude and merit become doctors and the other students may at an early stage, without wasting time and resources, pursue their vocational callings and the state resources are directed towards providing quality medical education.
The court noted the “considerations of the State are valid” and the authorities were within their right to frame rules and regulations to pursue and establish this purpose.
Courtesy : The Indian Express
