HC Relief to doctor, says bond service ineffective if rural postings not given within stipulated time

Jabalpur: The Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court recently opined that the rural service bond, which ensures that doctors serve the rural areas after the completion of the UG or PG medical courses, becomes ineffective if the doctors are not given postings within a stipulated time frame. 

Such a significant opinion was expressed by the bench while it was considering the plea of doctor who did not serve the rural service bond after his completion of the course back in 2017.

The State of Madhya Pradesh had introduced the bond service system for those students who opt for studying in the Government Medical Colleges. As per the bond conditions, such students have to serve in rural areas of the State for a period of one year after completion of their UG or PG degrees. In case the doctors fail to serve the bond terms, they are liable to pay a certain amount to the concerned medical colleges as penalty.

As per the Admission rules for the PG medical courses, the doctors are legally bound to serve as a medical officer in a rural area for a period of one year. However, the rules also specify that students would get posted as Medical Officers within three months of completion of the PG medical course.

Also Read: Bond Defaulters at MGM Indore: Registration of 274 doctors to get cancelled

The latest media report by the Times of India adds that in the case of the petitioner doctor, he had completed his PG course back in 2017. However, his counsel Aditya Sangh argued before the court that the terms and conditions of the bond were no longer applicable because he did not receive his posting within three months of completion of the PG course.

On the other hand, the MP Government argued that it could not give posting to the doctor because he had challenged the legality of the bond itself. Responding to this, the counsel for the petitioner doctor contended that the doctor's plea challenging the legality of the bond did not stop the State from providing him with the posting as a medical officer within the stipulated time frame.

After taking note of the arguments by both the sides, the HC bench ruled in favour of the doctor and held that the bond became ineffective as the doctor was not given the rural service posting within the stipulated time frame as mentioned in the rules.

Such an observation comes at a context when recently the Madhya Pradesh Medical Council has issued notices to thousands of doctors for their incomplete bond terms. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that identifying the bond defaulters since the genesis of the Bond Service Scheme, MP Medical Council had issued notice to around 4166 doctors belonging to five government medical colleges of the State.

The list of medical colleges includes Gandhi Medical College (GMC) Bhopal, Gajara Raja Medical College (GMRC) Gwalior, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Government Medical College Indore, Netaji Subhas CHandra Bose Medical College (NSCBMC) Jabalpur, and Shyam Shah Medical College (SSMC) Rewa.

The council had issued similar notice to the doctors last month as well. In fact, Indore based Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College had taken even stricter taken against around 274 bond defaulters. The college had recommended the names of such doctors for cancellation of their registration before the State Medical Council.

Also Read: Medical Council Issues Notice To 4166 Doctors For Skipping Bond Service in MP