Delhi High Court Directs Ministry of Health and Family Welfare To Consider Allowing PG Diploma Holders To Be Appointed As Assistant Professor/Associate Professor In Medical Colleges

  • Shruti Kakkar
  • 11:13 AM, 26 Feb 2021

Read Time: 06 minutes

The Delhi High Court has recently directed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to consult the National Medical Commission and National Board of Examination to consider allowing PG Diploma Holders to be appointed as Assistant Professor/Associate Professor in medical colleges.

Merely because there may be a shortage of teachers, there is no reason to allow those who are not qualified to teach, to teach. The same will result in medical colleges churning out not doctors but quacks”, Division Bench of Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw & Justice Sanjeev Narula noted.

In the present matter, the petitioners either pursuing post-graduate (PG) Diploma in various medical courses or already holding a PG Diploma, filed a petition seeking mandamus directing the National Medical Commission and the Union of India to allow PG Diploma holders in relevant disciplines of medicine to be appointed as Assistant Professor/Associate Professor/Professor, in medical colleges, on merit as well as on the basis of experience gained at the respective posts of Senior Residents.

The contentions of the petitioner were that PG Diploma students were permitted to become Senior Residents and were therefore entitled for teaching posts. The Counsel further submitted that once DNB qualified post-graduates from private hospitals were made eligible for appointment as Assistant Professor/Associate Professor/Professor, there was no reason as to why the PG Diploma holders who have worked as senior residents in government hospitals, were not permitted for the teaching posts. Emphasis was also laid on the real dearth of teachers in medical colleges to submit that PG Diploma holders should be allowed to fulfill the demand.

Counsel appearing on behalf of the National Medical Commission contended that minimum requirements for teaching posts have always been post graduation Degree in medicine and now of PG DNB but never Senior Residency.

Thus, the Bench observed that judging the equivalence of PG Degree Course and PG DNB Course on one hand with PG Diploma course on the other hand was beyond the decision of this Court and the same had to be taken by the experts. Reliance was placed on Anand Yadav Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh AIR 2020 SC 5383, Zahoor Ahmed Vs. Sheikh Imtiyaz Ahmed (2019) 2 SCC 404 & The Deputy Director of Public Instruction and District Recruitment Authority Vs. Shaik Moula (2006) 12 SCC 370.

Thus while disposing of the writ petition, the Bench further directed the authorities to take a decision in this regard within six months and published on the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as well as on the website of the respondent National Medical Commission.

 

Case Title: Rishikesh Ramaparbal Singh & Ors V. Union Of India & Anr

 

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