Delhi HC adjourns hearing on Association of MD Physicians petition challenging cost imposed upon it

New Delhi [India], July 2 : The Delhi High Court on Friday adjourned the Association of MD Physicians petition challenging a single-judge bench order which imposed cost upon the petitioner for moving plea seeking to postpone the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam Screening Test due to COVID-19 pandemic.
A vacation bench of Justices C Harishankar and Subramonium Prasad said that there is no urgency in the matter and listed it before the roster bench on July 12.
Association of MD Physicians has challenged a single judge bench order which imposed a cost upon the petitioner for moving plea seeking to postpone Foreign Medical Graduate Exam Screening Test due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The single-judge bench had imposed the cost against the petitioner while dismissing the petition seeking to issue an appropriate direction for setting aside the time schedule for conduct of the June 2021 Foreign Medical Graduate Exam Screening Test and postpone it due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The petition was filed through advocates Adit S Pujari and Chaitanya Sundriyal.
The Association of MD Physicians members includes Foreign Medical Graduates who have completed their primary medical courses in premier medical education institutions across the world i.e., outside India.
In accordance with the Indian Medical Council Act and Screening Test Regulations 2002, persons possessing medical qualifications awarded by a foreign institution are required to qualify for the FMGE Screening Test in order to receive recognition for their medical qualifications and to be registered to the State medical Councils in order to practice medicine in India.
The petitioner had told the Court that the members of the Association and other eligible foreign medical graduates are being forced to appear for the FMGE Screening Test on 18.06.2021 while putting themselves and people around them at risk of contracting Covid-19.
Doctor Rajesh Rajan, President of the Association of MD Physicians, had said that on behalf of its FMG members who were aggrieved, approached Prof. Pawanindra Lal, Executive Director of NBE, by way of a representation, requesting the National Board of Examinations to postpone FMGE June 2021. However, no response has been received by the petitioner to such representation, he said.
In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is neither safe nor feasible for a such large number of candidates to appear for the FMG Examination to be conducted in June 2021, the association had said.
It is clarified that members of the petitioner association, like other FMGs are ready and willing to be part of the Covid-19 workforce, and in this regard have also filed a Petition before the Supreme Court of India, indicating that even third and fourth-year MBBS students have been made part of such work-force.
However, the petitioners stated that working ad-hoc as part of such work-force (which may be treated as an internship, and which issue is also pending before the Supreme Court in the same Writ Petition) is wholly different from sitting for the FMGE, which would require displacement from their homes, movement and travel, RT-PCR testing, and staying in a city which they would not call home.
The Petitioner Association, on behalf of its members who are mandated to travel to other cities to give the exam proposed to be conducted on 18 June 2021, had waited for the Respondent NBE, and hoped that the Respondents would also recognize the impact on thousands of students and their families, and would postpone the examination.
It has also said that a large number of competitive examinations, as also qualifying examinations have either been postponed or canceled altogether.
The petitioner association has urged to set aside the time schedule for conduct of the June 2021 FMGE as contained in the Notice dated 15.04.2021 and the Information Bulletin dated 16.04.2021, titled 'Foreign Medical Graduate Exam Screening Test Information Bulletin December 2020 Session," published by the NBE.
It had also sought to issue an appropriate Writ, Order or Direction, in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, directing the Respondent to conduct the examination at a time conducive for such examination, but no earlier than six (6) weeks from the date when the examination was originally scheduled.
The Centre has opposed the plea saying that those who could not appear on it in June, may appear in examination in December.