AIIMS Obligated to Pay Stipend to Indian Junior Resident Doctors, Not Foreign PG trainees: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has held that the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) is obligated to pay stipend payments to Indian Junior Residents and it does not apply to foreign-national postgraduate medical trainees, who do not contribute to either the taxpayer funds or the national healthcare systems.

"As a publicly funded institution, AIIMS is obligated to prioritise stipendiary payments for domestic students who are beneficiaries of Indian taxpayer funds and expected to contribute to the national healthcare system. Extending such benefits to foreign/sponsored students who neither contribute to the domestic tax base nor form part of the national service pipeline would defeat the very fiscal rationale underlying their separate categorisation," observed the HC bench comprising Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar.