The Delhi High Court has dismissed an intra-court appeal filed by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and upheld the admission of a super-speciality candidate whose candidature had been cancelled on eligibility grounds.
The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia has held that post-MD senior residency experience can be counted toward the mandatory three-year training requirement for admission to a super-speciality course at AIIMS.
The Court considered the question whether the respondent fulfilled the requirement under Clause 4.3.2 of the AIIMS Prospectus mandating completion of three years of postgraduate tenure, explicitly defined as 365 x 3 = 1095 days, by 31 January 2026.
The respondent, who had secured All India Rank 4 in the entrance examination for the D.M. (Critical Care Medicine) programme, had completed 1026 days of residency training while pursuing his MD at GCS Medical College, Ahmedabad. AIIMS rejected his candidature on the grounds that the earlier 15 and 54 days spent at two other institutions could not be counted, and only the period of training undergone in the institute from which the MD degree was awarded was relevant
The Court agreed with AIIMS to the extent that experience gained in institutions where the respondent did not complete his MD could not be counted, observing that “it is the experience which leads to the award of the MD degree that is relevant even for the purposes of determining the eligibility.”
However, the Bench diverged on the crucial question of post-MD senior residency. Noting that in Dr. Deepak Suresh Kumar v. All India Institute of Medical Sciences & Ors., 2024 SCC Online Del 8946, the institution had accepted completion of deficient training even after award of the MD degree, the Court held that AIIMS could not take an inconsistent stand in the present case. It observed:
“we do not see any tenable reason why the experience gained by the respondent No.1 post award of MD degree cannot be taken into account.”
Since the respondent had completed 1026 days during his MD and an additional 96 days as Senior Resident post-degree, his total tenure amounted to 1122 days, exceeding the 1095-day requirement. The Court took note of the fact that there was no suppression of information:
“it is not a case where the respondent no. 1 had suppressed any information; rather, he made complete disclosure while filling up his form for appearing in the entrance test for admission to Super-Speciality course.”
The Court also noted that AIIMS had not declared him ineligible at any earlier stage of the admission process.
Concluding that the respondent satisfied the eligibility criteria in the peculiar facts of the case, the Division Bench dismissed the appeal and directed immediate communication of the order to enable completion of admission formalities before the deadline.
Appearances
Appellant- Mr.Anand Varma, Adv. with Mr.Ayush Gupta, Adv.
Respondents- Ms. Anushree Kapadia with Mr. Pranay Bhardwaj, Mr. Shivank Singh & Ms. Pragay Jaishwal, Advocates for Respondent No.1. Mr. Farman Ali, CGSC with Ms. Usha Jamnal, GP for UoI. Mr. T. Singhdev, Mr. Abhijit Chakravarty, Ms. Yamini Singh, Mr. Tanishq Srivastava, Mr. Vedant Sood, Mr. Bhanu Gulati & Ms. Ramanpreet Kaur, Advocates for Respondent No.3/NMC. Ms. Charu Mathur, Advocate for Respondent No.4. Mr. Kapil Midha with Ms. Vartika Gautam, Advocates for Respondent No.5.
