Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court has suggested that the Centre and the Medical Council of India do away with the criteria of minimum age of 17 years for getting admission into the course.
Counsel said that the petitioner Dheeraj got admission in the International University of Health Sciences in the West Indies and the foreign university gave him admission at its branch attached to a college in Guntur.
He said that after making an application to the MCI on April 28, 2010, for issue of the mandatory eligibility certificate, Mr Dheeraj continued his course under the impression that the MCI would issue the certificate before he completed the course. The MCI communicated to the petitioner in 2015 that his application was rejected.
The MCI contended that its regulations had a binding effect as has been decided by the Supreme Court. Accordingly, the case of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that he had not applied for eligibility certificate before commencing the MBBS.
While allowing the petition, Justice Suresh Kumar said, “The regulations are of the year 1997 and now we are moving towards e-courts, paperless courts and appreciating any of the citizens of this country, who does some out of the routine or anti-stream. Even in sports, boys and girls aged 16 and 17 are bagging medals for their respective countries. In that case, we appreciate and celebrate that at such a young age, he/she has attained this position. In such a situation, the age of 17 years for admission in MBBS has no meaning.”
While directing the Registry to send a copy of the same to the Secretary, Public Health System Centres, GoI so that talented students may not face the difficulty faced by the petitioner, the judge ordered the MCI to issue eligibility certificate to the petitioner within two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order.
