The Supreme Court on Friday refused to order medical universities to cancel or postpone final-year postgraduate exams on the grounds that candidate physicians have been engaged in COVID-19 duty.

A vacation bench of Judges Indira Banerjee and MR Shah said he could not give general orders to all universities not to hold or postpone the exam.

“In the circumstances, we do not consider it appropriate to pass orders, especially in the absence of the Universities. There can be no question of any order from the National Medical Commission when the universities concerned have had the freedom to decide on the time and method of examination, taking into account the pandemic situation in their region ”, declared the magistracy.

The highest court heard a plea filed by 29 doctors asking the authorities concerned to waive the final postgraduate medical examination (PGME) on the grounds that they had not had time to prepare for the examination because they were engaged in COVID duty.

They also asked for instructions to promote them as senior residents and to post-doctoral level at the end of the duration of the PG courses, without taking any exams.

The court said: “There can be no question of this Court making an order directing the respondent authorities to forgo the examination or to promote and / or upgrade the physicians as senior residents or at the post-doctoral level. without validating the final third cycle examination. ” .

The highest court noted that the NMC had already issued a notice in April asking universities across the country to consider the COVID situation while announcing the dates for final year exams.

“We intervened where possible, for example by postponing the INI CET exam organized by AIIMS in New Delhi for one month, where we found that there was no justification for setting the date. of the exam without giving the students time to prepare, ”said the bench.

Senior lawyer Sanjay Hegde, representing the petitioner’s doctors, said the NMC has issued opinions to universities regarding postgraduate courses / exams and that there should be a relaxation of the standards and criteria set in accordance with the political decision in medicine education at the postgraduate stage.

To this, the court said: “Courts exercising powers under article 32 and / or article 226 of the Constitution of India are prohibited from interfering with or regulating political matters or to sit on their appeal ”.

The Supreme Court said the dates for the final PG exams had not yet been set and a notice had been issued by the NMC on April 12 that all relevant medical universities could decide when and when. examination method taking into account the pandemic situation. in their field.

“There are many universities. Different universities are expected to set different dates taking into account relevant factors. The universities are not even parties to this lawsuit, ”declared the judiciary.

He said the court was told that some universities had set exam dates but those universities had not been made parties and there was no pleadings registered in this regard.

Hegde said that in the alternative, he is asking that the NMC be ordered to give instructions to all universities to give students a reasonable time to prepare for the exam.

“We don’t know what the reasonable amount of time might be to prepare for the exam. How can the court decide on the reasonable time? Everyone can have their reasonable time. Let the university decide on the basis of the opinion of the NMC depending on the pandemic situation prevailing in its region, ”said the bench.

The highest court said: “In a large country like India, the pandemic situation cannot be the same. In April-May the situation in Delhi was very bad, but today it is barely 200 cases per day. In Karnataka, however, the situation is not very good even now. Consequently, we cannot pass a general decree without hearing the universities ”.

The judiciary said that the universities concerned are expected to grant, at their discretion, a reasonable time, but at the same time it is not possible for this Court to say what the reasonable time should be.

“The written request is therefore not sustainable and is therefore rejected”, declared the magistracy.

Lawyer Gaurav Sharma, representing the NMC, said not all doctors are engaged in COVID duty and the board issued a notice in April to all universities to hold the exam after taking considering the COVID situation in their respective areas.