SC sets aside Rajasthan HC order on weightage marks to doctors

JAIPUR: The Supreme Court on Friday quashed and set aside the judgment of the Rajasthan High Court granting weightage marks to in-service doctors for admission into post-graduate courses for their postings in remote and difficult areas.

The bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Shantana Goudar set aside the order of the high court on a petition by non-service doctors Dr Amit Bagra and Dr Shikka Sharma.

The apex court order said the incentive to in-service doctors under Regulation 9(IV) cannot be granted till the remote and difficult area criteria is identified and notified by the state government for all beneficial schemes, said Purvi Mathur counsel for the petitioner.

Rajasthan High Court in its judgment on April 7, 2017 had mandated the state government to grant incentive to the in-service doctors under Regulation 9(IV) of the Medical Council of India 2000 without notifying the remote and difficult areas.

The high court order directed the government that while treating in-service doctors who are serving in hilly/desert/tribal areas as 'difficult areas' and other rural areas as 'remote areas' as identified by the state, the government is directed to grant them weightage of marks, assigned to in-service candidates, in the form of incentive, for determining their merit in NEET Examination, 2017. This was challenged in the apex court.