ESIC doctors move Supreme Court seeking 50 percent in-service reservation for PG medical admissions

Written by Barsha Misra Published On 2022-06-14T17:33:45+05:30 | Updated On 14 Jun 2022 5:33 PM IST

ESIC doctors move Supreme Court seeking 50 percent in-service reservation for PG medical admissions

New Delhi: The vacation bench of the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea seeking 50 percent in-service reservation for doctors who graduated from institutes run by Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

Apart from seeking reservation for admission into PG medical courses, the Junior Resident Doctors belonging to such ESIC institutes also prayed for being declared as "in-service" doctors of ESIC/ESIS for being able to avail the reservation benefits.

After being mentioned by the counsel for the petitioners, Mr. Sachin Patil, the top court vacation bench comprising of Justices A.S. Bopanna and Vikram Nath agreed to hear the plea and directed the registry to list the matter for further hearing on 17.06.2022.

"Upon being mentioned by Mr. Sachin Patil, learned counsel for the petitioners, we direct the Registry to list the matter on 17.06.2022," read the order.

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As per the latest media report by Live Law, the doctors in their plea referred to the policy of ESIC and pointed out that only the doctors who are recruited by ESIC (IMO-II) and are working in the ESIC institutes are eligible for availing the 50% reservation for PG medical admissions in the ESIC hospitals.

They also stated how the Junior Resident Doctors have executed a bond of serving the ESIC Hospitals as in-service candidates for a period of five years with ESIC.

At this outset, they contended in their plea, "Qualifications, entitlements, duties and responsibilities as well as pay scale of junior resident doctors and IMO-II are one and the same. Both officials are at par."

It further mentioned, "though Petitioners are similarly placed junior resident doctors like IMO- II but they are not held to be eligible for said 50% quota of ESIC Hospitals. Thus the policy of ESIC is arbitrary and discriminatory which violates Article 14 of the Constitution. It is submitted that ESIC has been granting benefit of reservation to one set of in service candidates and denying said benefit to another set of in service candidates, when both are at par and similarly placed."

Apart from this, the doctors have also argued that being the alumni of the respective ESIC institutes, they are entitled for availing the reservation benefits for admission to PG medical seats in the ESIC medical institutes on the basis of the institutional reservation/preference system.

To read the top court order, click on the link below.

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/supreme-court-esic-178589.pdf

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Supreme Courtin-servicein-service doctorsin-service reservationESICESIC institutesEmployees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC)Employees State Insurance CorporationEmployees State Insurance Corporation hospitalEmployees State Insurance Corporation Medical Collegepg medical admissionJunior Resident Doctors

Source : with inputs

Barsha Misra

Barsha completed her Master's in English from the University of Burdwan, West Bengal in 2018. Having a knack for Journalism she joined Medical Dialogues back in 2020. She mainly covers news about medico legal cases, NMC/DCI updates, medical education issues including the latest updates about medical and dental colleges in India. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in.