Give degrees to Medical Students: Bombay HC slams Maharashtra University of Health Sciences

Mumbai: Justice has prevailed again with the Bombay High Court, on Friday, issuing a directive to the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) to award two doctors of Lok Manya Tlak Medical College their Post Graduate degrees. The degrees of the two doctors had been withheld, as their parent college Lokmanya Tilak Medical College had failed to send their admission details, to the concerned authorities, indicating it to be a 'clerical error'.

A division bench of Justice Vidyasagar Kanade and Justice Pukhraj Bora gave a directive in the case of Dr Felice Faizal, (2^nd rank, MD Pathology) and Dr Prateek Patil (Topper-MS Orthopedic) to the MUHS for granting of degrees and to the Medical Council of India for registration of the medical practitioners.

"Imagine the travesty of justice and what the students had to undergo all these years," said Justice Kanade. "It is inconceivable that students who have successfully completed the course are deprived of their degrees on account of the alleged mistakes of the college," said the judges.

The error committed by the college surfaced in 2014 when they submitted their thesis and the college informed them that their names were absent from the college rolls. "It is difficult to accept this has happened inadvertently," added the judges.

The court even went ahead and rejected the MCI's stand that a central government approval was required to regularize their admissions.It contended that based on their rank performance, they were entitled, as a matter of right, to admission in the college. "We have no hesitation in holding that regularization does not arise," ruled the court.

"The students were made to suffer for no fault of theirs and for a mistake committed by the college. The college kept them in the dark and the students carried on with their course and even attended to duties as non-resident doctors," said Advocate, Tanvir Shaikh, the petitioner's counsel.

The Directorate of Medical Education and Research, meanwhile, treated their seats as vacant and admitted two others in their place. At the time of appearing for the final exam in 2015,the two moved court and were allowed to appear for their exam. When the university withheld their degrees and denied registration, they again sought court protection.

When their degrees and registration were withheld, they again moved the HC. The college calling it an 'inadvertent mistake' , put the onus of responsibility on the college clerk.

The Judge, however, queried, "How is it that the college gave them admission, issued them identity cards but forgot to give their names for registration?" Holding to task the MCI, the BJP-led central government, and the college, the High Court said, "How can you play with the future of young students? They work hard to secure medical admissions. Imagine the agony they must have gone through, " reports TOI.