TN Assistant Surgeons Recruitment row- HC to decide on rejection of 400+ applications

Chennai: Amid the concerns regarding the allegations of irregularities in the Health Department's counselling for the post of assistant surgeon, the Madras High Court has held that the rejection of more than 400 such applications would be subject to the outcome of the plea challenging the decision.

Filing the plea before the HC bench, the petitioners argued that they were unable to submit the certificates due to the delay by the Tamil Nadu Medical Council in issuing them.

Medical Dialogues has been reporting about the issues concerning the alleged irregularities in the counselling held by the Tamil Nadu Health Department for recruiting 2,642 assistant surgeons to tackle the State's doctor shortage.

These doctors, registered with the State Medical Council who applied for the post by submitting original registration certificates claimed that around 400 doctors submitted provisional registration certificates instead of the original, which directly contradicts the eligibility criteria set by the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB).

Also Read: TN doctors raise concerns over transparency in recruitment of 2642 Assistant Surgeons

The core issue in the case revolves around the recruitment board's directive that job opportunities will be granted only to doctors registered with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council (TNMC). However, the doctors alleged that MRB called doctors who registered with the council even after July 15, 2024, for certificate verification, and this violated the MRB notification.

Initially, the MRB had set May 15, 2024, as the last date for TNMC registration for applicants. However, following requests from some doctors who couldn't meet this deadline, the MRB revised the cut-off date to July 15, 2024. It was alleged that some of the candidates used this extension of the deadline to submit applications using provisional TNMC registration certificates instead of the original.

Recently, responding to the growing concerns from doctors about the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of 2,642 assistant surgeons, Health Minister Ma Subramanian assured that doctors who are registered with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council (TNMC) before July 15, 2024, will be recruited for the post of assistant surgeons in the State.

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, now the doctors have approached the Madras High Court bench arguing that they were unable to submit the certificates due to the delay by the Tamil Nadu Medical Council to issue the certificates. Admitting the plea, the HC bench of Justice C V Karthikeyan held that the decision of the Medical Recruitment Board (MRB) to reject the applications would be subject to the outcome of the pleas.

Appearing for the petitioners, advocate M Velmurugan submitted that the petitioners completed their medical course in 2023 from medical colleges affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University.

Issuing a recruitment notification on March 15, 2024, MRB invited applications for 2,500 assistant surgeons (general) and the last date to file the application was May 15, 2024. The petitioners pointed out that one of the requirements was completion of the medical internship and registration as a medical practitioner with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council under the Act of 1914.

They further submitted that when the students of the 2018 batch submitted a representation fearing that they would not be eligible to participate in the recruitment process, the last date was extended to July 15, 2024. Even though the petitioners were qualified for the post, due to the delay in processing their certificates, their applications were rejected, they submitted.

Also Read: Only Doctors registered before July 15 eligible for Assistant Surgeon Posts: Ma Subramanian