IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CASE NO.: C.W.P. NO. 8194 of 2005 DATE OF DECISION : July 17,2009 Dr. Madan Lal .......Petitioner versus Medical Council of India & others ......Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE NIRMALJIT KAUR PRESENT: Mr. Sumeet Mahajan, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Sham Lal Bhalla, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Gurminder Singh, Advocate for the respondents. NIRMALJIT KAUR, J. The petitioner passed his B.Sc. (Medical Technology) from P.G.I Chandigarh in the year 1998 and joined as Medical Technologist in the Department of Microbiology, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana in 1989. In the year 1991, he joined M.Sc. (Microbiology) in Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. The main thrust of his study was clinical/medical. The title of his research topic was “Isolation and Characterization of Food Poisoning Bacteria.” The aforesaid subject is a purely medical topic as it concerns with food poisoning in human beings. He was awarded M.Sc. (Microbiology) degree on 07-03-1994 by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. In response to an advertisement dated 03-10-1992, he applied for appointment to the post of teacher in Christian Medical College, Ludhiana. Since, he fulfilled the educational qualification, C.W.P. NO. 8194 of 2005 -2- he was appointed as such by appointment letter dated 16-05-1993 (Annexure P-4). On 02-08-1994, the Panjab University, predecessor-in- interest of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences – respondent No.2 granted approval to the appointment of petitioner as teacher in Christian Medical College, Ludhiana. In 1996, while working as teacher at Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, he joined Ph.D. in the subject of Microbiology in Panjab University, Chandigarh. The research project of the petitioner in Ph.D. was “Pathobiology of Yersinia enterocolitica.” The research of the aforesaid project was carried out by him on the diarrhoeal patients of Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana. He investigated more than 2000 patients of diarrhoea for completing his Ph.D. project. The area of research in Ph.D. project was exclusively medical field, although words “Medical Microbiology” have not been mentioned in the degree of Ph.D. awarded by Panjab University. Christian Medical College, Ludhiana promoted him from the post of teacher to that of Lecturer on 14-12-2001 vide letter dated 05-01-2002 w.e.f. 14-12-2001. Respondent no.3 sought approval to the promotion-cum-appointment of the petitioner as Reader in the Department of Microbiology, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana from respondent No.2. Respondent no.2, in turn, sought opinion of Medical Council of India with regard to appointment of petitioner as Reader by letter dated 16-04-2002. Respondent no.1, by communication dated 01-07-2003 informed respondent No.2 that although petitioner obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. qualifications with all the practical work having been conducted in related medical field under the guidance of medical teachers at Christian Medical College, Ludhiana and that the tenure of training and work may be C.W.P. NO. 8194 of 2005 -3- related to that of medical field yet because he has not obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Medical faculty, he cannot be considered to be eligible for appointment as teacher in the Department of Microbiology in a medical faculty. Aggrieved with the same, the petitioner filed the present writ petition. Learned counsel for the petitioner, at the very outset, submitted that the present writ petition is covered by the judgment dated 13-02-2009 (CWP No.4698-CAT of 2004), titled as “Medical Council of India vs. Union of India etc. Learned counsel for the respondents, however, tried to distinguish the case of the petitioner from CWP No.4698-CAT of 2004, by raising the ground that firstly, the petitioner, herein, has not done his Ph.D. from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, like in CWP No.4698-CAT of 2004 and secondly, the respondents in CWP No.4698-CAT of 2004 were appointed, in pursuance to the advertisement of February, 1997 on contract basis and the Chandigarh Administration had not yet framed its recruitment rules and were following the Punjab Medical Education Clause (i) Rule 1971. The respondents, in that case, were therefore, held to be eligible under 1971 Rules, whereas, the present petitioner was not appointed, in pursuance to the said advertisement and hence the 1971 rules will not be applicable to him. After hearing learned counsel for the parties, we find that the case of the petitioner is squarely covered by the judgment of this Court, passed in CWP No.4698-CAT of 2004, in as much as, while holding that the respondents, in that case, were held eligible for appointment to the post C.W.P. NO. 8194 of 2005 -4- of Senior Lecturer (Microbiology) or Senior Lecturer (Biochemistry) not only on the two grounds, as mentioned above, by Sh. Gurminder Singh, learned counsel for Medical Council of India but also on various other grounds and especially, keeping in mind the fact that although the Medical Council of India recognized certain institutes for awarding degree of M.Sc. (Microbiology) and M.Sc. (Biochemistry), still, these institutes were not actually awarding any such degree at that time as also the fact that the advertisement itself was in doubt with respect to the qualification so specified of M.Sc. (Microbiology). The plea of the respondents to consider them for appointment, was accepted on yet another account. The respective departments of the contesting respondents are non clinical and there is a specific provision in the 1971 Regulations as well as under the 1998 Regulations for recruiting non-medical teachers in the Medical Colleges in the non-clinical subjects to the extent of 30% in the department of Microbiology and 50% in the department of Biochemistry. With respect to the application of 1971 Rules, it can be safely held that these rules are applicable to him on account of the fact that the petitioner's appointment was for the post of teacher in Christian Medical College, Ludhiana in the year 1993 and was given to understand that he fulfill the necessary educational qualification for being appointed as teacher. The Regulations were amended only in 1998. With respect to the objection that the petitioner had not done his Ph.D. from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, it may be clarified that in response to the letter dated 16-04-2002, respondent No.1, vide letter dated 01-07-2003 had recognized the fact that the petitioner had carried out work which was related to medical field. Further while continuing in the Medical College, he registered himself in Microbiology with the Panjab University, C.W.P. NO. 8194 of 2005 -5- Chandigarh and that for his Ph.D. Microbiology Research Work, 90% research work was done in the Department of Microbiology, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana under the supervision of Dr. Harjeet Kaur, M.D., Professor & Head and Dr. Lalit Gupta of Panjab University. The petitioner worked for the same project in other institutions such as AIIMS, New Delhi. The title of Ph.D. Thesis of the petitioner was “Pathobiology of Yersinia enterocolitica” which is a Medical Oriented subject. The organism Yersinia enterocolitica has been associated with a variety of human and animal diseases including fever, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, colitis, mesenteric adenitis, pharyngitis, hepatospleenic abscess and septicemia and also post infectious immunological disorders such as arthritis, erythema nodosum and glomerulonephritis. Thus, the M.Sc. and Ph.D. Qualifications related to medical and that all the practical work, having been conducted in related medical field under the guidance of medical teachers in the Christian Medical College, Ludhiana. The petitioner can be safely considered at par with those who have done Ph.D. from Post Graduate Institute. Accordingly, the present writ petition is allowed, in the same terms, as in CWP No.4698-CAT of 2004 and the impugned order dated 16-03-2005 (Annexure P-14) is quashed and the petitioner is, accordingly, held eligible. (NIRMALJIT KAUR) JUDGE (ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA) JUDGE July 17, 2009 gurpreet Whether to be referred to the Reporter : Yes / No