Case Title: DR.BILU B.S. v. UNION OF INDIA
The Kerala High Court has ordered that the 40% in-service quota under the Kerala Medical Officers Postgraduate and Service Quota Act, 2008 should be put into effect during the counselling for PG-Super Specialty medical seats. This was followed by the observation that the States have the authority to provide quota for in-service candidates in PG-Super Specialty medical courses.
A division bench made up of Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P. Chaly ordered the State Government to compile a list of applicants qualified for the 40% in-service quota, and they were also told to implement it through the National Medical Commission and Director General of Health Services.
The instructions were given by the bench as it was deliberating a writ application brought by a group of applicants who were upset that their request to grant an interim order to impose the in-service quota in the counselling had been declined.
The division bench issued the writ, the day before the counselling date and ordered the DGHS to provide a date for counselling with regard to in-service applicants in Kerala seeking admission to Super Specialty courses.
In his appearance on behalf of the appellants, attorney George Varghese Perumpallikuttiyil argued that the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench decision in Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association and Others v. Union of India upheld the States' right to set in-service quotas for medical admissions.
The attorney further emphasised that from 2009–2010 until the Central Government instructed its suspension in accordance with a notification published in 2017, the State Government had been offering in-service quotas under the 2008 Act. Following the Supreme Court ruling in State of UP v. Dinesh Singh Johal, which questioned the legitimacy of the reservation for in-service candidates, the Central Government issued the aforementioned notification.
"Now that the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association's case held that the State has got authority and competence to provide reservation. Hence, we are of the considered view that directions issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association (cited supra) are binding on the National Medical Commission of India/State Government/Union of India", the Court observed.
The Judge ruled that according to the terms of the Kerala Medical Officers Postgraduate and Service Quota Act, 2008 and the rules issued thereunder, the status as of 2009–2010 must be restored as the Hon'ble Supreme Court made it plain that the State had the jurisdiction to give reservation. The State Government was required to give effect to the Hon'ble Supreme Court's decision in the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association matter, in accordance with the applicable statutes and regulations. The State Government was required to compile a list of qualified applicants for admission under general admission requirements and applicants for the 40% in-service applicant reservation and was to send the list of applicants—both general and in-service applicants, to the Director General of Health Services, who was responsible for counselling applicants for admission to the Super Specialty courses.