Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

ii) MCI recognised institutions which impart 6 years of medical education with one year's of internship. Therefore, degrees issued by such recognised institutions to students who have put in 6 years of medical education and have successfully completed the course and obtained the degree and thereafter have completed one year of internship (both in recognised institutions) would be recognised by MCI and will be considered eligible for provisional/permanent registration as the case may be.
iii) In relation to students who have completed 6 years of medical education, out of which initial period of not more than 4 months was in an unrecognised institution, and the rest in a recognised institution the MCI will accept their request for registration upon their completing 16 months of internship.
iv) The students who have completed 6 years of medical education but have studied more than 4 months but not more than 6 months in an unrecognised institution (and the rest in a recognised institution) should be required to undergo an additional internship of 12 months over and above the usual internship of 12 months i.e. total internship of 24 months.
v) In case of the students who have studied 5 1/2 years of medical education (although in a recognised institution) would appear in an examination and upon being successful (in not more than 3 attempts) will be required to undergo regular 12 months of internship after which they would be considered for registration.

26. Another point raised by the petitioners is that the requirement of passing the screening test under Section 13(4)(a) and (b) are not applicable to the persons with "recognised medical qualifications" covered by Section 13(3) of the Act. That the screening test provided is wide-ranging test covering the entire five year course to be tested through multiple choice examinations in two days would result into large scale failures and is as such unreasonable. Instead of being subjected to a test the students can be asked to do extra internship. That the screening test is disproportionate and unreasonable response in the light of the fact that till 2000, and even thereafter, extra internship was found to be an adequate protection of the educational and public interest. Even if the screening test is to apply it should be applied prospectively from 2006-2007 so that students who had joined the course earlier than 2000-2001 are protected from screening test but required to do extra internship.

27. MCI in its counter-affidavit after tracing out the entire background of facts narrated in the foregoing paragraphs contended that the writ petitions were misconceived and deserved to be dismissed. According to them any candidate who was seeking provisional or permanent registration from the MCI under the provisions of the Act after 15.3.2002 is mandatorily required to qualify the screening test. That each candidate after completing 6 years of teaching and training in the medicine course is required to undergo compulsory internship of 1 year after obtaining the qualification. The contention of the petitioners that they cannot be subjected to the screening test because the Central Government has not issued any notification in the official Gazette specifying the date is incorrect and unsustainable in law. That it is the Central Government which has specified the date of 15.3.2002 to bring the regulations in force. This date so specified by the Central Government was published in the official Gazette as a part of the regulation and therefore all the contentions to the contrary in the writ petition were misconceived, incorrect and therefore denied. That issues raised in the present petition were subject matter of Medical Council of India (supra), in which this Court after hearing the parties and perusing the documents placed on the record conclusively decided that all the candidates who applied to MCI for provisional registration after 15.3.2001 would become eligible to seek permanent registration only after doing one year internship and passing the screening test. In terms of the orders of the Court they all fell under the provisions of Screening Test Provisions of 2002 and are required to qualify the screening test before they are granted registration to practice medicine in India, That it is an admitted case that the petitioners obtained their medicine qualifications after 15.3.2001. They obtained their provisional registration enabling them to do mandatory internship of one year around September, 2001. They are seeking grant of permanent registration after 15.3.2002 and therefore are clearly under the statutory regulation to qualify in the screening test. Similarly, the other contentions raised by the petitioners in the writ petitions were also denied.