Madras HC stays NMC rule mandating 75 percent attendance for PG medical faculty

Madurai: The National Medical Commission's recent requirement of a minimum 75 percent attendance (out of a total 300 annual working days) from the faculty members of Postgraduate medical institutes has now been stayed by the Madras High Court.

While considering a plea filed in this regard by two assistant professors and a senior resident from the government medical colleges in Madurai and Sivaganga, the Madurai bench of the High Court recently stayed a portion of the amended minimum standard requirements (MSR), published by NMC earlier this year. 

The HC bench comprising Justice Chandangoudar noted that the total number of working days differs across the States. Even though it stayed the requirement for 75% attendance out of 300 annual working days, it clarified that the petitioners were required to fulfil 75% attendance out of 238.5 days.

Earlier this year, the National Medical Commission (NMC) revised norms on private practice and attendance for faculty in medical colleges in its recently released PGMSR amendment.

Medical Dialogues had reported that in the amendment, the NMC laid down clear rules regarding faculty attendance. NMC made it mandatory for faculty members to maintain at least 75 percent attendance in a calendar year. For this calculation, the total number of working days in a year has been fixed at 300.

Also Read: NMC amends private practice, attendance norms for medical college faculty, details

"It shall be mandatory to have at least 75 per cent attendance in a calendar year of the total working days. Total working days will be 300 for calculating 75 percent attendance," mentioned clause xii of the document.

As per the latest media report by The New Indian Express, challenging the amendment, a joint petition was filed by two assistant professors and a senior resident from the government medical colleges. Filing the plea, they sought a direction to quash Clause xii of Para 2 of the amended MSR laying down the above-mentioned condition on the faculty members of the PG medical institutes.

The petitioners argued that the PGMSR published in 2024 does not specify the total number of annual working days, as it differs across the States. Therefore, it was left for the respective states to decide.

They contended that the NMC Board has now arbitrarily fixed the total working days as 300 across the country, further mandating the faculty members to maintain a minimum 75% attendance i.e. 225 days. 

The petitioners pointed out that in Tamil Nadu, the total number of annual working days is around 240 days. Therefore, they claimed that the NMC's amendment has led to a situation where the faculty members will be forced to maintain 92-94% attendance. (225 out of 240 days).

Apart from this, the petitioners highlighted that the government servants have statutory leave, such as casual leave. They argued that due to the amended condition, the faculty members of the government medical institutes would not be able to avail the leaves.

After considering the plea, Justice Chandangoudar stayed Clause xii, noting that the clause requires the faculty members to fulfil 75% attendance out of 300 working days.

However, clarifying that they will be required to fulfil 75% attendance out of 238.5 days, the bench posted the matter for further hearing on June 8.

Also Read: NMC amends Minimum Standard Requirements for running PG medical courses, here are key takeaways