The Supreme Court has dismissed doctors' appeals to have the PG final year medical test canceled or postponed

On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected to order medical universities to cancel or postpone final year Post Graduate exams since the examinee-doctors were on COVID-19 duty.

Counsel for the petitioners requested that the exam fees of students who were unable to take the examinations owing to COVID restrictions be carried forward. However, a vacation bench consisting of Justices Indira Banerjee and MR Shah said it was a policy decision of the involved authorities. The Court could not impose any orders.

"In the circumstances, we do not deem it appropriate to pass any orders, particularly in the absence of the Universities. There can be no question of any order on the National Medical Commission when the concerned universities have been given the liberty to decide the time and the method of examination taking into consideration the pandemic situation in their area," said the bench.

The petitioners have also requested that they be promoted to senior residents as soon as their scheduled term ends. On the other hand, the vacation bench had sent notice of these requests to the Union Government and the National Medical Commission. MD students should review the timetable for the Final Year PG Exam 2021 and prepare accordingly.

Sanjay Hegde, a senior advocate representing the petitioner doctors, stated that the NMC( NATIONAL MEDICAL COMMISSION) had issued advisories to universities regarding Post Graduate courses/examinations. A direction is given that there should be some relaxation in the norms and criteria set as per policy decision about postgraduate medical education.

NMC's lawyer, Gaurav Sharma, argued that not all doctors were on COVID duty. The council had issued an advisory in April directing all universities to organize the examination after considering the COVID situation in their respective districts.

"In a vast country like India, the pandemic situation cannot be the same. In April-May, the situation in Delhi was very bad but now it is hardly 200 cases per day. In Karnataka, however, the situation is not that good even now. Therefore, we cannot pass any general order without hearing the universities". Supreme Court said.