Rarest of Rare case: Madras HC asks State to regularize service of MBBS doctor who took up part-time position leaving Govt Job
Madurai: The Madurai bench of Madras High Court recently encountered an unusual case where a doctor had approached the High Court seeking regularization of his job as a vocational instructor after giving up a far better position as the civil assistant surgeon by TNPSC.
Although a single-judge bench of the High Court had directed the Government to regularize his service, the State had challenged the directions and appealed before a division bench. However, the division bench comprising of justices T S Sivagnanam and S Ananthi also passed the judgment in favor of the doctor and directed the State to regularize his services as a full-time instructor.
"We are pleasantly surprised as it is one of the rarest of rare cases where a person who has completed his MBBS degree thought fit to serve in a post which is much inferior to which he was eligible. We have no doubt in our mind that such unique cases will never arise in future," observed the bench at this outset.
As per the latest media report by the Times oa f India, the doctor had first pursued BSc Chemistry in 1970 and afterward he also earned his MBBS degree in 1978. Consequently, his name got registered with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council and he got selected for the post of civil assistant surgeon.
However, instead of taking up the job of assistant surgeon, he had applied for the post of part-time vocational instructor in a school and was appointed in 1984.
His service was to end in 2009 and before his retirement, he had submitted several representations seeking to regularize his services as a full time instructor and to provide monetary benefits.
The authorities, on the other hand, rejected his application cited his lack of essential qualification as the reason for rejection. The qualification for the vocational instructor had been fixed as BSc nursing, but the doctor had a BSc degree in chemistry and an MBBS degree. The authorities further contended that the MBBS degree obtained from Andhra University was not equivalent to the same degree issued by the Madras University.
Following this, the doctor had approached the Madurai bench of Madras High Court and had challenged the rejection order in 2010 before a single judge bench. After perusing the material related to the case, the Madras High Court single judge bench had directed the Government to regularize his services and grant him monetary benefits back in 2016. Challenging this order, the Government approached the division bench.
Observing the reasoning of the single judge bench to be proper, the division bench didn't interfere with the judgment and directed the State to implement the earlier order of the High Court within 3 months.
"We are pleasantly surprised as it is one of the rarest of rare cases where a person who has completed his MBBS degree thought fit to serve in a post which is much inferior to which he was eligible. We have no doubt in our mind that such unique cases will never arise in future," observed the division bench of Madras High Court.
