Poorva Chavan
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Written By: Poorva Chavan | Published : January 13, 2015 10:27 AM IST
New Delhi, Jan 13: The Supreme Court on Monday said that admission to post-graduate medical courses will only be based on merit, ruling out Kerala Government s decision to reserve seats for doctors working in its hospitals and other departments. The state government passed a law stating that 40% of total seats available to the state quota would be reserved for its medical officers and admissions would be based on seniority and without appearing in the entrance exams. (Read: What's in store for this generation of medical student)
The regulations have been framed by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and were binding to all the state governments as well and any rule not in line with the council would be termed as a violation of that rule said a bench of Justices T S Thakur and R Banumathi. TOI reported the court's statement, Regulation 9 (of MCI) is, in our opinion, a complete code by itself in as much as it prescribes the basis for determining the eligibility of the candidates including the method to be adopted for determining the inter se merit which remains the only basis for such admissions. To the performance in the entrance test can be added weightage on account of rural service rendered by the candidates in the manner and to the extent indicated. (Read: Now two exams instead of one for PG medical seats)
The court also said that, When the maximum marks to be obtained in the entrance test for admission to the institutions for higher education including higher medical education are fixed, the state cannot adversely affect the standards laid down by the Union government. It was held that it is for the MCI to determine reservation to be made for SC/ST and OBC candidates and lowering the qualifying marks in their favour. A bunch of petitions were filed challenging the High Court order in a reply to which the court passed the order which says that government doctors would have to appear in entrance examination to qualify for admissions to a PG course.
The High Courrt had said that seniority of medical officers should be considered while preparing merit list. The apex court however upheld this order. A meritorious in-service candidate cannot be denied admission only because he has an eligible senior above him though lower in merit. It is now fairly well settled that merit and merit alone can be the basis of admission. Their merit cannot be overlooked only to promote seniority which has no place in the scheme of MCI regulations, it said.
Image source: Getty Images
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