The Delhi High Court has struck down Regulation 18 of the Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023, which imposed a complete ban on the migration of medical students from one college to another, declaring it unconstitutional and violative of Article 14.
A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia ruled that such an absolute prohibition was “manifestly unreasonable and arbitrary” and directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to formulate a proper policy that allows migration subject to necessary conditions and safeguards.
The judgment came on a plea filed by a medical student with 40% visual impairment, who had sought migration from Government Medical College, Barmer, Rajasthan, to a college in Delhi due to his deteriorating health caused by Barmer’s extreme climate.
The bench, in its February 4 order, directed the NMC to consider and decide the petitioner’s transfer request within three weeks.
The court took strong exception to the NMC’s submission that the petitioner had accepted the seat in Barmer voluntarily and was aware of the local weather conditions. Calling it “nothing but short of rubbing salt into the wounds,” the bench observed that the petitioner had not secured the seat in Barmer due to low merit, but only because he had been denied a fair opportunity in the initial rounds of counselling, and could participate only at a late stage due to court intervention.
Rejecting NMC’s contention that migration is susceptible to misuse, the court said that the “possibility of abuse” cannot be a valid ground to curtail genuine rights.
“What we find is that in the name of maintaining uniformity, standard and integrity in the matter of medical education across the institutions, total prohibition on transfer or migration of a student… cannot be said to be reasonable,” the bench held.
Invoking the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, the bench said the law obligates public authorities to ensure “reasonable accommodation” and “appropriate environment” for persons with disabilities. It said that such provisions enacted by Parliament “cannot remain only a decorative and admirable piece of literature kept in a bookshelf.”
The court concluded that Regulation 18 fails the test of Article 14 — which guarantees equality and reasonableness in state action — and thus, cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny.
“Reasonableness is a facet of equality… The impugned Regulation 18… does not pass the constitutional muster as per Article 14 of the Constitution of India and, accordingly, the same being manifestly unreasonable and arbitrary, is held to be ultra vires.”
Accordingly, the Delhi High Court declared Regulation 18 invalid and directed the NMC to put in place a suitable policy permitting migration with safeguards, thus paving the way for students in exceptional circumstances to seek transfers in a constitutionally compliant manner.
