Bengaluru, Oct 7 (DHNS): The High Court on Tuesday stayed the enforcement of the Karnataka Compulsory Service Training by Candidates Completed Medical Courses Act, 2012, that came into effect on July 24, 2015.
In an interim order on a writ petition by students of M S Ramaiah Medical College and Hospital, Justice Ravi Malimath ordered the State government to issue degree and registration certificates to medicos who had challenged the retrospective enforcement of the said law. But the degree and registration certificates would be subject to the result of the writ petition.
The court also directed the students who approached it to submit an affidavit stating that if their petition was dismissed, they would comply with the Act.
Bushra Abdul Aleem and other students, including some foreign nationals, have challenged the retrospective enforcement of the said Act which mandates that all medical students serve for a year in government hospitals and primary health centres in rural areas to be eligible to get their degree and registration certificates. The rule applies to all those studying MBBS, diploma and postgraduate medical courses in government colleges or on government seats in private colleges.
The government has argued that the law was enforced to address the shortage of doctors in rural areas by obtaining the services of medical students who graduate in large numbers from a host of colleges in Karnataka every year. The students countered by saying that the government’s “failure” to appoint doctors in rural areas cannot be overcome by bringing in an “arbitrary” law and enforcing it strictly.