HC relief to Doctor: Rs 30 lakh seat-leaving penalty scrapped, medical college to return documents
Madhya Pradesh High Court
Jabalpur: Granting relief to a doctor who had to leave his postgraduate studies midway after the violence erupted in Manipur, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed Bundelkhand Medical College to return the original documents to him within 7 days.
Hailing from Imphal, the doctor cleared the National Eligibility-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) exam in 2021 and was admitted to an MD degree course at Bundelkhand Medical College, which is located approximately 170 km away from Bhopal.
ETV Bharat has reported that most of the family members of the doctor were killed in the violence, and he could no longer return to resume his studies as the rest of the family depended on him.
However, at the time of admission, the doctor had submitted his original documents to Bundelkhand University, and after he left the course midway, the University administration demanded Rs 30 lakh from the doctor for quitting the course to return those documents.
Agrieved, the doctor approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court. As per the latest media report by ETV Bharat, in his plea, Dr. Thongam Yaifada Singh submitted after clearing the NEET PG exam in 2021, he was allotted a seat in Bundelkhand Medical College, Sagar, in the year 2022-2023 as per the All India Ranking. He submitted that originally he is a resident of Imphal, Manipur and the family has suffered a lot due to Manipur violence, and he is the only male member left in the family. Due to social responsibility, he does not want to mention the loss caused by the riots in the plea, he further submitted.
"MD course is of 3 years and 2 years have been completed. He is forced to leave the course midway. The college management is demanding Rs 30 lakh for returning the original documents," further stated the plea.
Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, senior advocate Aditya Sanghi submitted before the Court, "On the advice of the Medical Commission of India, the state government has abolished the rule of taking Rs 30 lakh from students admitted from the year 2025 while vacating a medical seat. The petitioner belongs to the OBC category and is not in a position to deposit the amount due to poor financial condition. He is forced to leave the seat as there is no male member in the family."
Taking note of the arguments, the HC Division bench, comprising Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain, ordered that the doctor be handed over the documents within 7 days. Apart from this, the bench has also issued a notice to the medical college management and sought a reply on the plea.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in August last year, the 'National Task Force on Mental Health and Well-being of Medical Students', set up by the National Medical Commission (NMC) opined in its report that seat-leaving bonds and compulsory rural service bonds should be abolished. As an alternative to the seat-leaving bond, the Task Force has suggested prohibiting such students from applying to medical colleges for twenty-four months from the date of leaving.
NMC Anti-Ragging Committee had set up the National Task Force to study existing literature and data on the mental health of medical students and propose evidence-based strategies for improving the same.
