Delhi HC rules prohibition on transfer of medical student to another college invalid

Delhi HC declares total prohibition on medical student transfers unconstitutional, directing NMC to create a migration policy.

The Delhi High Court has ruled that the total prohibition on transfer or migration of a medical student from one college to another is invalid while directing the National Medical Commission to formulate a “proper policy” to permit migration.

A Bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said Regulation 18 of the Graduate Medical Education Regulation, 2023 was against the Constitution for being “manifestly unreasonable and arbitrary”.

The court passed the verdict on February 4 while dealing with a petition by a medical student, having 40% visual impairment, who sought his migration from Government Medical College, Barmer, to a college in Delhi.

The court directed the NMC to take a decision within three weeks on the petitioner’s request seeking his transfer.

“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, need of which may occur in various situations, including the one which has arisen in this case, cannot be said to be reasonable, rather in our opinion, such prohibition is manifestly unreasonable and arbitrary,” the court said.

The court observed that the NMC’s stand that migration was prone to misuse could not be sustained as possibility of abuse could not be used to deny legitimate rights to a citizen.