MCI guilty of contempt for treating doc unfairly

Bhadra Sinha / TNN / Jun 18, 2006, 23:36 IST

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15 years after he had completed his MBBS degree, Prashanta Padmanabha Amin could not practise as he was not registered with the MCI.

MCI guilty of contempt for treating doc unfairly

NEW DELHI: Despite doing internship thrice and repeating Class XII examination in spite of a post-graduate degree in medicines, a doctor continued to languish in hope of earning his livelihood.
Fifteen years after he had completed his MBBS degree from a Russian University, Prashanta Padmanabha Amin could not practise as he was not permanently registered with the Medical Council of India (MCI).
The MCI wilfully disobeyed court orders, including a Supreme Court judgment, and declined Amin a permanent registration. Amin, however, refused to give up.
After fighting a three-year-old litigation in the high court against the MCI, Amin finally achieved a small victory when the Delhi High Court held MCI secretary guilty of contempt of court.

Coming down heavily on the council for not upholding the "majesty and dignity of law," Justice Gita Mittal was also of the view that MCI should compensate Amin as he wasn't able to earn due to the authority's indifferent attitude.
"Every action of a statutory authority has to reflect fairness. Non-compliance of an order passed by the court has two extremely serious consequences. Firstly, it results in interference with the administration and course of justice.

Secondly, it deprives the beneficiary of an order of the court of benefits," held the judge. Justice Mittal fixed July 3 to decide the quantum of punishment for MCI secretary, R N Sheetal Wad, and the compensation amount Amin is entitled to.
Amin had joined Veravan University in Russia in 1984. Earlier, he qualified for the preparatory school in same University with 85% marks.
Amin's advocate, Rajeshwar Kumar Gupta said: "My client could not clear two subjects, Marathi and mathematics, in his Class XII exams as he was down with cholera.
Since Russian education system allowed foreigners to study in a preparatory school to fulfil the minimum eligibility criterion of 11 years of schooling, Amin joined there."
In 1991 he returned to India, after procuring a degree subsequent to a year long internship, and applied for registration. The MCI, however, asked him to undergo further training. After completing his internship, Amin did his postgraduation and in February 1996 once again sought registration.
Seven months later, MCI turned down his request on the ground that he had not passed the higher secondary examination with 50% marks, an eligibility criterion for entrance to medical courses in India.
To fulfil the same, Amin took the Class XII exams. Meanwhile MCI came out with a resolution to debar candidates who got an MBBS degree from Russian Universities.
As the resolution was struck down by the Supreme Court, Amin , who had already filed a writ petition in the high court, stood eligible for the registration.
"While disposing of his writ, the court directed MCI in April 2002 to grant him registration for four weeks," Gupta said. The MCI, however, enrolled Amin on provisional basis and failed to give a reason for not registering him permanently.

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