New Delhi: A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will examine whether the Medical Council of India (MCI) can allow states to reserve seats in post-graduate courses for doctors who earn incentive marks by working in government hospitals in remote or hill areas. The scheme for incentive marks has also been challenged.
A three-judge bench of Justices Kurian Joseph, M.M. Shantanagoudar and Navin Sinha on Friday referred to Chief Justice Dipak Misra a batch of petitions filed by Tamil Nadu Medical Doctors Association (TNMDA) and others for adjudication by a larger bench.
The main dispute pertains to the claim made by Tamil Nadu on reserving PG seats in favour of government doctors serving in remote areas. The proposed quota in PG course was aimed at further incentivising government doctors for serving in rural areas.
The petitions have challenged the validity of Regulation 9(4) and (8) of the MCI’s Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000, which provides incentive mar-ks for in-service doctors.
