Karnataka High Court exempts 447 government quota MBBS students from rural service, execution of bonds

The Karnataka High Court recently granted relief to 447 MBBS graduates challenging a rule mandating compulsory rural service and execution of bonds to that effect [Dr Sharanya Mohan and Ors v. Union of India and Ors.].The Court said that the rule in this regard was published in the gazette ten years after being promulgated."The said amended Rule is to come into effect on the date of publication in the Official Gazette. It is gazetted on 22-07-2022 – 10 years after the promulgation of the Rules. The State appears to have been in deep slumber or having a siesta for 10 years," the judgment dated April 22 stated..Justice M Nagaprasanna, however, said that MBBS students admitted to colleges under the government quota after July 22, 2022 cannot escape compulsory rural service or execution of bonds."When the students get in under a separate Government quota, at grossly subsidized fee, they cannot, but aid in the programme of the State to improve public health, more particularly, in the rural tribal and difficult areas. The object behind the prescription of the mandate of rural service is ostensibly to provide better health care in rural, tribal or those difficult areas of the citizens of this country, who would have no means to reach a doctor......It is a dream, that a day would come that medical graduates, would themselves volunteer to render such service, in the rural areas and it is expected that the dream would shortly come true, so that the Society would become Egalitarian resulting in an ‘Utopian Land’.".The Court was hearing writ petitions by the MBBS graduates challenging a June 2021 notification mandating that every government quota MBBS candidate who graduated in 2021 will have to undergo the compulsory rural service and execute a bond to that effect.After the notification was issued, the State government had issued a corrigendum by which Rule 11 of the Karnataka Selection of Candidates for admission to Government seats in Professional Educational Institutions Rules, 2006 was amended to provide that if the bond is violated, a penalty of ₹15-30 lakh would be levied..The petitioners contended that the State did not have legislative competence to notify Rule 11 and that it ran contrary to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, which is a Central law.They further contended that the bonds were executed when they had not attained 18 years of age, and were, therefore, illegal..On the other hand, the State refuted the submissions and contended that all these issues had already been negated by a coordinate bench of the Court in Bushra Abdul Aleem v. Government Of Karnataka..The Court, based on the judgment in Bushra Abdul Aleem, rejected the contention that the State lacked legislative competence and that the Rules should be set aside. It further observed that the NMC Act did not restrict the State's power to regulate education in terms of Entry-25 of List III of the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution.Accordingly, the Court upheld the Rule and partly allowed the challenge by quashing the corrigendum only in respect of the petitioners. .The petitioners were represented by Senior Advocates BC Thiruvengadam and KG Raghavan as well as advocates Manik BT, Brijesh Singh M, Girishkumar R, Ramananda AD, Akash VT, Vivekananda S and Shreya S Kumar..The Union of India was represented by Central Government Counsel MN Kumar.The State of Karnataka was represented by Additional Advocates General R Subramanya and Pramonidhi Kishan.NMC was represented by advocate N Khetty.Rajiv Gandhi University of Health and Sciences was represented by advocates NK Ramesh and MS Devaraju.Karnataka Medical Council was represented by advocate Ratna N Shivayogimath..[Read Judgment]