DNB qualification for Medical faculty recruitment: HC refuses to stay process

The State Government had admitted that the experience criteria it had laid down for eligibility are higher than those prescribed by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Association of DNB doctors had filed a petition on the High Court challenging one advertisement of the government which sought online applications for the appointment of medical professional candidates on May 29th. The advertisement sought appointments to fulfill the vacancy of 686 posts that includes vacancy for professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and tutors in various subjects in Government Medical College and other teaching hospitals.

The association had approached the High court and objected to the advertisement stating that DNB doctors have been unreasonably excluded from the recruitment process as doctors having DNB qualifications are not included in the eligibility criteria. The petitioners through advocate Narendra Jain had submitted that the Medical Council of India and other similar bodies have considered postgraduate qualification of DNB as equal to MD MS and MCH degrees if not superior.

Following this, the Gujarat High court had directed the state government to file a response explaining why the Diplomat National Board (DNB) doctors have been excluded from the eligibility criteria of recruitment.

Defending their stance, the State Government in an affidavit had submitted that "regulations of the recruitment in state services is the function of a state for which it is authorized to legislate as it has in the instant case albeit higher criteria of experience".

The government had further stated that "in the past, the state government brought its subordinate legislation regulating services of medical professionals to consistency with that prescribed by MCI, and therefore there is no reason to believe that the limited extent of variance in the prescription as is highlighted in the present petition inter Se the recruitment rules of the state and regulations of the MCI would persist."

Also Read: Gujarat: State Defends Exclusion Of DNB From Eligibility Criteria From Medical Teachers Recruitment

As per a recent media report in TOI, now, the court has refused to stay the state government's decision, however, it admitted the petition on by the Association of DNB doctors which has questioned the state government's decision of not following the criteria laid down by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for education qualification for the posts.

It claimed that the government has wrongly excluded doctors with DNB degrees whereas it is equivalent, and should be treated so, to postgraduation courses like MD and MS.