India News | Delhi HC Dismisses with Rs 25k Cost Appeal by Doctors Concerning FMG Test

New Delhi, May 24 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has dismissed an appeal by a doctors' association challenging the imposition of cost and certain adverse observations made by the court while dismissing their petition seeking to postpone the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) screening test due to COVID-19 and imposing a further cost of Rs 25,000.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla said that there was no merit in the Association of MD Physicians' appeal which was directed against the single judge's finding that the appellant indulged in “forum shopping,” and directed that the cost be deposited with the Delhi State Legal Services Authority.

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“We find no merit in the present appeal. The same is dismissed with a further cost of Rs. 25,000/- to be deposited with the Delhi State Legal Services Authority,” the court said in its order dated May 23.

The court stated that the appellant could not have maintained two different petitions in respect of the same examination -- one before the Supreme Court and the other before the high court and a party, under writ jurisdiction, should not suppress any material facts and take parallel recourse to legal proceedings.

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“The appellant was already before the Supreme Court in relation to the prayer for exemption from appearance in the said examination. The appellant not having secured the exemption did not approach the Supreme Court for postponement of the very same exam but preferred the present writ petition. This is nothing short of 'forum shopping', as the appellant or, at least, its counsel was aware that the Supreme Court had not granted the said relief,” the court said.

Appellant association had filed the appeal challenging a single judge's June 11, 2021 order imposing a cost of Rs 25,000 and making certain remarks while dismissing the petition seeking to postpone the exam which was scheduled for June 18, 2021.

The Appellant association had argued that the relief sought before the Supreme Court and the high court was different as before the single judge, the doctors had sought to postpone the exam and in the Supreme Court, their prayer for the interim relief was to direct all the states to induct foreign medical graduates to participate in the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.

National Medical Commission was represented by advocates T Singhdev and Abhijit Chakravarty, and the National Board of Examination was represented by lawyer Kirtiman Singh.

They had argued that the appellant indulged in suppression of material facts in the present writ petition filed before the learned single judge.

The single judge, while dismissing the petition, had said there was no doubt that while arriving at the decision to hold the FMGE -- June 2021 on the scheduled date, the respondents, NBE, and NMC have considered all aspects of the matter.

The court had said the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic reached its peak in India in April and early May and thereafter the numbers have been steadily declining and it would be in the public interest if more doctors were added to the workforce in order to be prepared for a possible third wave.

The single judge had further said that the association had approached the court at a highly belated stage when the Information Bulletin for the FMGE- June 2021 had been out since April that year and the peak of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was seemingly behind us.PTI ADS

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)