Delhi High Court permits Russia-educated MBBS graduate to appear for foreign medical graduate exam

On July 7, a single judge had rejected the appellant's application for interim relief seeking permission to appear in the FMGE to be conducted on July 30, pending final adjudication of his plea The Delhi High Court Monday permitted an Indian MBBS graduate from Russia to appear in the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE). The appellant had challenged a single judge’s order, which had rejected his plea in the absence of an eligibility certificate while observing that in case the appellant succeeds there would be a subsequent exam either this year or in 2024 where he can be allowed to appear in the exam. A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula said that the appellant will be permitted to appear in the exam and his result will be kept in sealed cover till his writ petition before the single judge is decided. On July 7, the single judge had rejected the appellant’s application for interim relief seeking permission to appear in the FMGE to be conducted on July 30, pending final adjudication of his plea. Against this order, the appellant moved an appeal before the division bench. The appellant, in his appeal moved by advocates Avijit Mani Tripathi and Yoothica Pallavi, stated that the single judge failed to appreciate that the main prayer of writ petition was for granting the ‘Eligibility Certificate’ itself, which had been denied by the NMC on April 27. The appeal stated that rejection by NMC was on an incorrect factual and legal premise. “It is submitted that the very factual premise of rejection order by NMC that petitioner has studied Physics and Chemistry and Biology together only for one year in class 11th not in class 12th is incorrect as the Petitioner initially passed 12th exam from U P Board of Education in year 2011 with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics and thereafter studied Physics, Chemistry and Biology again from a regular school for two years and passed 12th exam again with Biology as an additional subject,” the appeal stated. The appeal further stated that the rules of U P Board do not permit simultaneous study of Biology and Mathematics in Class 12; they also do not permit re-appearance in Board examination in a subject which a person has already cleared in a previous examination. In 2016, the appellant took admission at Crimean Federal University in Russia and graduated in MBBS on July 17, 2022. In its plea before the single judge the appellant has said that eligibility certificate is an essential document to appear for the exam and if he is unable to do so, he won’t be able to start his mandatory internship which would affect his future prospects. As per the appellant, candidates of most state boards have no option to study these subjects simultaneously (as permissible in CBSE Board), adding they have to study for four years for passing Class 12 examination with both Biology and Mathematics, out of which one has to be an additional subject. The appeal further stated that the appellant had applied for the eligibility certificate to NMC in January 15, 2022 and the rejection order was only passed on April 27 this year which prevented him from sitting for the exam when it was conducted in January this year. It further stated that the refusal of his interim application, “despite being an ex facie (on the face of it) case in his favour”, will result in the appellant losing another opportunity to appear in examination to be held on July 30. It added that this will result in the appellant losing “one and a half precious years of his career” for no fault of his as the next examination will take place after at least six months. The appeal prayed that the single judge’s order be set aside and the appellant be permitted to appear in the exam conducted by National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences which would be subject to final outcome of the writ petition before the single judge.

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