Bonds executed for compulsory rural service of MBBS graduates prior to July 22, 2022 are illegal: Karnataka High Court

Around 440 MBBS graduates of 2021 are not required to undergo one year of compulsory rural service as per the bond signed by them while joining the medical course through government-quota seats in 2015 as the High Court of Karnataka has said the law, enacted in 2012 for mandatory rural service, remained unenforced for 10 years as it was published in the official gazette only in July 2022.

Around 440 MBBS graduates of 2021 are not required to undergo one year of compulsory rural service as per the bond signed by them while joining the medical course through government-quota seats in 2015 as the High Court of Karnataka has said the law, enacted in 2012 for mandatory rural service, remained unenforced for 10 years as it was published in the official gazette only in July 2022.

“The State appears to have been in deep slumber or having a siesta for 10 years. If the rule itself depicts that it would come into effect on the date of its publication in the official gazette, the rule that just stood on paper before publication was inchoate. On an inchoate rule, the State has sought to impose certain conditions upon students,” the court observed.

The court made it clear that bonds executed for mandatory rural service till the rules were published in the official gazette on July 22, 2022 are illegal as the contracts, singed through the bonds, were executed based on the power available under the rules, which were not in force when the bonds were executed prior to July 22, 2022.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order recently while partly allowing the petitions filed in 2021 by Sharanya Mohan and other MBBS graduates, who completed the course in 2021. The petitioners had questioned the legality of compulsory rural service when the National Medical Commission (NMC), which controls medical courses, has not made such a service mandatory.

‘Can’t escape now’

However, the court said the rules are in place today with their publication in the gazette in July 2022 and the students admitted to the MBBS course under government quota seats cannot now escape the rigour of compulsory rural service or execution of bonds in terms of the rules.

Meanwhile, the court said the Karnataka Compulsory Service Training by Candidates Completed Medical Courses Act and the Rules, 2012, the validity of which was upheld by the court in 2020, is valid even after the enactment of the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act as the 2012 Act is not repugnant to the NMC Act when the latter did not restrict the powers of the State to regulate education as per the constitutional provisions.