Karnataka High Court restrains State govt for two weeks from compelling 180 MBBS doctors to register for compulsory rural service

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday restrained the State government for two weeks from compelling 180 doctors to register online for the Compulsory Rural Service under provisions of the Karnataka Compulsory Training Service By Candidates Completed Medical Courses Act, 2012..In its interim order, Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum said that State should not precipitate the matter for two weeks. "Since the learned Additional Advocate General is yet to conclude his arguments and this Court has to hear the counsel for the petitioners by way of reply, the first respondent-State is directed not to precipitate the matter pursuant to the impugned notification as per Annexure- A for a period of two weeks only in respect of the petitioners who are before this Court," the order said. .The Court clarified that the order is applicable for those persons arraigned as petitioners in the matter and not anyone else. "It is needless to state that this interim arrangement is confined to the petitioners who are before this Court. However, the respondent-State is at liberty to proceed with implementation of the Notification as per Annexure- A," the order said. .The Court was hearing a petition filed by medical students challenging a notification dated June 8, issued by the State government directing those undergraduates who have secured government seats and completed their MBBS exams in academic year 2021 to register online for the Compulsory Rural Service. Compulsory rural service is a concept envisaged under provisions of the Karnataka Compulsory Service to Candidates Completed Medical Courses Act 2012.In the case of Bushree Abdul Aleem v. State of Karnataka, the High Court had upheld the validity of the said Act. However, it had also ruled that the law would not apply to candidates who had already been admitted to medical courses before July 24, 2015 when the Act had come into force. Further, the petition submitted that in 2019, the National Medical Commission Act (NMC Act) came into force resulting in an overhaul of medical education regulation. With the NMC Act in the picture, the State governments have lost their rights in regulating medical college admissions, it was pointed out. The June 6 notification, it was contended, was pursuant to the 2012 Act which is non est in law. The matter will be heard again on June 1.