Student cannot escape Compulsory Rural Bond, holds Madhya Pradesh High Court

The High Court in response to a petition filed has observed that the government is spending a considerable sum of money for imparting medical education in government colleges(GMCs) and the students are paying meager returns as fee. The medical graduates who pass out of these colleges are required to work for an year as per the bond signed by them, at the time of joining, are often found breaching their contracts, while in reality it is their duty to offer their services, the court has pointed out. In the absence of this one year service, admission to post graduate courses cannot be granted to the erring students the court has further stated.

The court has also held that those reluctant to work in Government College and Hospitals in rural areas for a period of one year, are liable to pay a penalty of Rs. Ten lakh for breaching the bondThe ten lakh amount was fixed as per GR dated February 8, 2008 to ensure that trained medical professionals work in Government establishments and render their services in rural areas. However, it has been seen that most like to pay for breach and not render rural services as per the bond signed by them.

One such case that was presently in front of the division bench of Justice Vasanti Naik and Justice Arun Upadhye, spoke of a girl student who having cleared her MBBS had quit her rural tenure after four and a half months, having applied for a Post Graduate Course. The difficulty lay in the fact that the college was unwilling to grant her admission for the 2017-18 session, as she had not completed the bond terms of I year compulsory service in a rural area .

Before securing admission to the MBBS, the petitioner had furnished a bond/undertaking that she would serve in the hospital-college in the rural or other areas as per the requirement of the State Government, for the tenure asked for. She was also unwilling to pay the pre-determined penalty of Rs. 10 lakh for breach of bond condition.

An interim order of the High Court, dated May 16 had allowed her to appear at the counselling for admission to the PG course and she was provisionally admitted to the Diploma Course in Gynecology in MTML Hospital and LTMM College during the pendency of the writ petition reports Hitavada.

The High Court was dis-inclined to allow the respondents to permit the petitioner student to continue with the Diploma Course in Gynecology, especially in the breaching of bond condition, wherein she still had three years to complete the one year tenure; however, she had decided to call it a day after four and a half months. The Division bench finally directed the petitioner to pay a penalty of Rs 10 lakh within a period of three weeks.

Adv C B Dharmadhikari appeared for the petitioner while AGP K L Dharmadhikari represented the respondents.