PG students sitting idle without providing any service a 'national waste': Kerala HC directs state to decide on bond postings
Ernakulam: Raising concerns that postgraduate doctors are being forced to sit idle without serving the Government or the public sector, the Kerala High Court sought a solution from the Government to the delay in providing postings to such doctors.
In a recent ruling, the Kerala HC bench comprising Justice Viju Abraham directed the State Government to decide whether additional supernumerary Senior Resident posts could be created to accommodate these PG medical graduates or whether, alternatively, such doctors, who have been waiting for months for their postings, could be relieved from their bonded obligation for compulsory one-year service.
The Government has been directed to decide in this regard within one month from the date of receipt of the copy of the judgment.
These directions were issued by the High Court while considering the pleas filed by several postgraduate doctors who had completed their courses at government medical colleges in the State. However, even after eight months since their graduation, they were not given postings to complete their compulsory government service.
As per clause 11-1(b) of the prospectus regarding admission to medical postgraduate courses in Government Medical Colleges and RCC for the academic session 2022-23, the petitioners are mandatorily required to execute a bond undertaking to serve the Government of Kerala in Medical Education Services as Senior Residents for a continuous period of not less than one year immediately after completion of the course without break.
Until completion of the compulsory bonded service, the original certificates of the candidates are to be retained in safe custody of the concerned Principal. Further, the prospectus stated that if the Government was not in a position to offer a job either under the Medical Education Service or Health Service within one year after completion of the course, the candidates shall be absolved from the bonded obligation.
According to the case details, the petitioners have duly executed the service bond in favour of the Government of Kerala, undertaking to serve for the stipulated period. Petitioners have at all times been ready and willing to fulfil their obligation under the said bond. Upon completion of the course, petitioners become eligible to be posted as Senior Resident for the purpose of fulfilling their compulsory bonded service.
In their plea, the petitioners argued that despite the respondents compelling them to execute a bond, they failed to issue posting orders to the petitioners even after several months. Further, the petitioners submitted that despite this situation, they were unable to exit before a period of one year without working either in the Government service or under any other institution, which is highly arbitrary and unjust.
They argued that the stipulation in the prospectus that "immediately after completion of the course" contained in the prospectus imposed a reciprocal obligation upon the authorities to issue posting orders without undue delay. They submitted that among the petitioners, only one doctor was issued an appointment order. However, after joining, for computing the period of compulsory bonded service, respondents have reckoned the bonded period only from their respective date of joining duty, completely refusing to grant any set-off for the period commencing from the date of obligation until their actual joining. They argued that this is contrary to clause 11-1 (c) of the prospectus which expressly provides that the period of Senior Residency will be only from the date of publication of the result subject to successful completion of course.
On the other hand, the Government submitted that there was absolutely no reason to grant any of the reliefs sought for in the plea as the petitioners executed compulsory Government service bond in accordance with the conditions contained in the prospectus governing admission. Further, it was submitted that, unlike in private medical colleges, only a nominal fee is charged from the students in GMCs and a compulsory Government Service Bond is one of the conditions attached to such concessional medical education provided by the Government.
It was further submitted that Senior Residency is not a regular appointment in Government service, but a stipendary programme intended to facilitate the discharge of compulsory Government Service obligation by the PG medical students.
According to the Government, the petitioners belong to the 2022 batch and, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the admission of the 2021 batch was considerably delayed and was conducted only during 2022 and within a few months thereafter, admission to the 2022 batch was also completed, resulting in an unprecedented overlap of two batches eligible for compulsory Government service.
It was submitted by the Government that nearly 1000 postgraduate students completed the course from GMCs in Kerala in the year. However, only about 600 senior residency vacancies are available for accommodating such candidates. Therefore, it was administratively impossible to provide senior residency postings to all eligible candidates immediately upon publication of the examination result.
The Government further argued that as per the prospectus, the Government is required to provide compulsory government service posting within one year from the date of publication of the result, and if the Government is not in a position to provide such posting within the said period, the candidates shall stand absolved from the bonded obligation. Since the prescribed period of one year has not expired, the allegation that the respondents have failed to provide posting is premature and factually unsustainable.
Further, the Government submitted that to address the temporary shortage of vacancies caused by an overlap of two batches, the Directorate has already submitted a proposal to the Government for creation of additional supernumerary posts of senior residents, which is presently under consideration of the Government.
Observations by High Court:
After perusing the prospectus, the HC bench observed that the bonded obligations as provided in Clause 11-1(b) mandate that all general medical candidates admitted to Medical Post Graduate courses in Kerala shall serve the Government of Kerala in Medical Education Service as Senior Resident for a continuous period of not less than one year immediately after the completion of the course without break.
Meanwhile, 11-1(c) mandates that the said period of senior residency will be only from the date of publication of the result subject to successful completion of the course.
Accordingly, addressing the question of whether the bond service should be computed from the date of publication of the course or the commencement of senior residency, the HC bench observed, "So, going by the said clause, the period of Senior Residency will be only from the date of publication of the result subject to successful completion of the course. Therefore, the obligation of a post-graduate students like the petitioners herein as per the Board condition is only from the date of publication of result for a period of one year. The period of Senior Residency as a bonded obligation has to start from the date of publication of the result irrespective of whether a posting could be granted soon after the publication of the result or thereafter."
Another aspect that the Court noted was that all throughout the bonded period or during the period of the bonded obligation, the certificates of the petitioners will not be provided to them and only after the bonded period is over will they be given the certificates.
Referring to the counter affidavit filed, the bench noted that the said situation of not being able to provide Senior Residency happened due to a peculiar circumstance of covid-19 pandemic.
"This resulted in an administrative impossibility to provide Senior Residency posting to all eligible candidates immediately upon publication of the exam result. Going by the counter affidavit, the Senior Residency is not a regular appointment, but it is a stipendary programme intended to facilitate the discharge of a compulsory Government service obligation undertaken by post-graduate medical students," it noted.
The bench also took note of the petitioners' submission that they were ready to serve as Senior Resident for a period of one year and that they were entitled to get sipend for the said period also.
Addressing this, the bench noted,
"The situation now is that the petitioners are without any posting as Senior Resident for almost eight months, whereby denying them the stipend they are entitled to nor they are able to work in any other hospitals since the certificate etc. will be released to them only after the period of bond is over. This has resulted in a situation where the post-graduate students after completing their studies have to sit idle at home for almost one year without doing any service to the society either in the Government sector or in a private sector. Said situation has occurred only due to the fact that the 2021 and 2022 batches completed the course at the very same time. If this situation is permitted to continue, naturally for the subsequent years also it will result in the post-graduate students sitting idle for months together without being given any posting, without having any stipend nor being able to work outside the Government service."
"I am of the view that this is a national waste since the postgraduate students are sitting idle without discharging any function, without providing any service to the public in Government or in a private sector," held the HC bench.
The Court observed that a similar issue was considered by the High Court of Chhattisgarh, where it was held that since the respondent Government failed to issue appointment orders to the petitioners within a period of six months from the date of completion of MBBS post-graduation, the bond executed by the petitioners should automatically be cancelled by operation of law. The Madras had also considered a similar issue, observed the bench.
"Even when I uphold the condition that the post-graduate students who are studying in Government Medical Colleges are bound to execute a bond and are bound to serve the Government service as Senior Resident for a period of one year, this Court cannot ignore the situation that the post-graduate doctors, are forced to sit idle without doing any service either to the Government or in the public sector, which both cater to the interests of the general public. This cannot go unnoticed by the Government. The learned Counsel for the petitioners submit that they are ready to execute or comply with their bonded obligation but due to the lack of sufficient posts they are not being accommodated. This situation cannot continue any further," observed the HC bench.
Directing the State to take a decision regarding the bonded doctors within one month, the HC bench ordered,
"It is stated in the counter affidavit that inorder to address the shortage of vacancies caused by the overlap of two batches that the Director has already submitted a proposal to the Government for creation of additional supernumerary posts of Senior Resident, and the proposal is pending consideration before the Government. Therefore, the matter requires serious reconsideration at the hands of the 1st respondent Government. Therefore, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the 1st respondent Government to take an appropriate decision on the proposal submitted by the Directorate for creation of supernumerary posts so that petitioners are accommodated so that they complete their bonded obligation or in the alternative to relieve the petitioners from their bonded obligation since almost eight months have already passed after their completion of the bond and the publication of the result. A decision in this regard shall be taken within an outer limit of one month from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment."
To view the order, click on the link below:
https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/2026/10/01/vs-state-of-kerala-477971.pdf
