50 year old seeks readmission to MBBS course: HC slams appelant, says cannot play with lives

Referring to the advances of medical science over these years, and also pointing out that the syllabus of the MBBS course must have changed in this course of time, the High Court bench comprising of Justice Bhargav D Karia dismissed the man's plea of appearing for the third year MBBS examination.

"Suppose there are no rules (for such readmissions). Even then, you cannot be permitted to act as per your whims, more particularly when you are going to play with the lives of people," the court was quoted observing by PTI.

The bench was considering a plea filed by one Kandip Joshi, who had appeared for his second-year MBBS exams at Baroda Medical College in 1988 and later dropped out due to personal reasons.

The petitioner, who is currently engaged in some business, wanted to pursue his third-year MBBS course and appear for the exam at the same college, more than 30 years later, Joshi's lawyer told the court.

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Joshi had first approached the college in 2013 seeking readmission in the third year, and after being denied, he approached the court, which dismissed his plea in 2019, while giving him the liberty to approach the Medical Council of India (MCI), now National Medical Commission (NMC) with representation.

The petitioner's lawyer stated that when Joshi approached the MCI, it rejected his request stating that "the duration of discontinuation allowed shall be five years from the period of discontinuation".

It said that the date of application for rejoining should not be later than five years from the date of discontinuation. In Joshi's case, it was 31 years since he first approached the Dean of the Medical College at Vadodara in 2013, his lawyer said.

After taking note of the submissions of the petitioner's counsel, the High Court bench wanted to know why he should continue to pursue the MBBS course at this stage in life and "play with the lives of people".

"Why should he waste…what will he get after this? Can he do an internship at the age of 50? It is not possible. How many children (does he have)? At the age of 50, his children must be in the age of pursuing MBBS course. Will he study with his children for the course?" Justice Karia asked.

He further said that the petitioner was bound to fail if he appeared for the exam, especially as he will be attending the new course after such a long gap.

When Joshi's lawyer argued that the petitioner sought to study the third-year course before taking the exam, the court said that such a permission cannot be granted.

"Why should he be ready at this stage of life, to start from scratch?" the court questioned.

It further noted that the syllabus would have changed several times with the advances in medical science over the last three decades.

"The course for which you appeared for the first and second year MBBS exams does not exist, then where is the question of permitting you for the third year?" Justice Karia as he turned down the plea.