TN Surgeons Recruitment row- HC junks doctors' plea
Madras High Court
Chennai: Amid the row over the recruitment of civil surgeons in Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court recently upheld the State Government's recruitment of 2,642 civil surgeons.
With this, the HC bench comprising Justice C V Karthikeyan dismissed a plea filed by more than 200 doctor candidates, whose applications for the posts were rejected by the Medical Recruitment Board (MRB) for non-submission of permanent medical practitioner registration certificates before the cutoff date.
Filing the plea before the HC bench, the petitioners argued that they were unable to submit the certificates due to the delay by the Tamil Nadu Medical Council in issuing them. They urged the Court to direct the MRB to consider their application based on the provisional certificates issued by TNMC.
Earlier, while considering the plea, the HC bench had held that the decision of MRB rejecting the applications would be subject to the outcome of the plea.
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As per the latest media report by the Times of India, during the hearing of the case recently, the MRB submitted that the applications of candidates who obtained certificates before the cutoff date of July 15, 2024, were considered. Since the petitioners missed the deadline, their applications were not considered as per the rules, added the MRB. Agreeing with the submissions, the bench dismissed the pleas without granting any relief.
Medical Dialogues has been reporting about the issues concerning the alleged irregularities in the counselling held by the Tamil Nadu Health Department for recruiting 2,642 assistant surgeons to tackle the State's doctor shortage.
These doctors, registered with the State Medical Council who applied for the post by submitting original registration certificates claimed that around 400 doctors submitted provisional registration certificates instead of the original, which directly contradicts the eligibility criteria set by the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB).
Also Read: TN doctors raise concerns over transparency in recruitment of 2642 Assistant Surgeons
The core issue in the case revolves around the recruitment board's directive that job opportunities will be granted only to doctors registered with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council (TNMC). However, the doctors alleged that MRB called doctors who registered with the council even after July 15, 2024, for certificate verification, and this violated the MRB notification.
Initially, the MRB had set May 15, 2024, as the last date for TNMC registration for applicants. However, following requests from some doctors who couldn't meet this deadline, the MRB revised the cut-off date to July 15, 2024. It was alleged that some of the candidates used this extension of the deadline to submit applications using provisional TNMC registration certificates instead of the original.
Recently, responding to the growing concerns from doctors about the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of 2,642 assistant surgeons, Health Minister Ma Subramanian assured that doctors who are registered with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council (TNMC) before July 15, 2024, will be recruited for the post of assistant surgeons in the State.
