MBBS abroad: HC stays Order that called for minimum 80 pc marks in class 12th

Chennai: Providing relief to candidates taken aback by the single bench order of the Madras high court that required them to score minimum 80 percent marks in class 10+2 in order to apply for MBBS courses abroad, the double bench of the HC has now stayed the earlier order

The single bench order barred the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Centre from issuing eligibility certificate to students, who secure less than 80 per cent marks in the qualifying examination to pursue medical courses in foreign countries.

Earlier, the single bench of honourable Justice N Kirubakaran pointed out that in the past 10 years, only 15-25 per cent of doctors with foreign degrees managed to clear the mandatory screening test, the Foreign Medical Graduate Examinations (FMGE), conducted by the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to practise the profession in India.

As a result, the judge had ordered that minimum marks of 50 per cent prescribed by MCI have to be revised and be raised to at least 80 per cent.

Read Also: Set Minimum 80 pc qualifying marks for pursuing MBBS abroad: HC to MCI, Centre

Now, the division bench comprising honourable Justices M Sathyanarayanan and N Seshasayee granted an interim stay, while hearing an appeal by the Board of Governors in the suppression of Medical Council of India. The bench also issued notices to the Centre, the Tamil Nadu Medical Council and the state government.

The appeal challenged the September 28 order of Justice N Kirubakaran, contending that the single judge had increased the minimum qualification marks from 50 per cent to 80 per cent without any challenge to the stipulation. The judge had erroneously re-legislated the provisions of regulation on graduate medical education 1997, it had submitted.

Justice Kirubakaran had passed the order on a petition by foreign medical degree-holder Thamarai Selvan seeking a direction to the Medical Council of India to issue a certificate of provisional registration to enable him to take up the Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship (CRRI) in the state.

When students who secured more than 95 per cent in the qualifying examination were unable to get seats for pursuing medicine in India, the judge wondered how candidates with 50 per cent marks in the qualifying exam could be allowed to get admission in foreign medical colleges.

The bench has posted the matter to December 17 for next hearing.