Madhya Pradesh High Court: In a petition where Doctors who completed six months of training, filed intervention applications, seeking to appear in the Competency-Based Evaluation (CBE) test, a division bench of Vivek Rusia and Binod Kumar Dwivedi, JJ., allowed the intervention applications and permitted the interveners to participate in the proceedings.
In the instant matter, the intervention applications were filed by doctors who completed six months of training and sought to appear in the Competency-Based Evaluation (CBE) test. The Court via interim orders prevented the conduct of CBE tests, thereby hindering these doctors from registering as Sonologists. The Court stayed operations of Annexure P/4 dated 26-02-2015 and notification dated 23-06-2016 via order dated 13-07-2016. The Court allowed another stay, vide order dated 19-10-2023, thereby blocking the CBE test scheduled for November 2023. Applications to vacate the stay were disposed of on 06-11-2023 with a direction for final hearing in January 2024, but the case remained unresolved.
The petitioner society argued that their members are already qualified for registration as sonologists under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Rules, 1996 (1996 Rules), with six months of training or one year of experience in sonography. It was claimed that the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) (Six Months Training) Rules, 2014 (2014 Rules), mandating six months of additional training, will not affect their vested rights.
The Court noted that the impugned interim orders are impacting medical practitioners’ ability to practice and trainees’ ability to appear for exams, necessitating relief. The Court balanced the vested rights of the petitioner society’s members with the need for the interveners to complete their registration process and allowed the intervention applications, thereby permitting the applicants to join the case.
The Court directed the respondents to conduct the CBE test as per the notification dated 12-10-2023 under the 2014 Rules. The Court stated that the examination will not impede members of the petitioner society who are already practicing as Sonologists, thereby ensuring their vested rights remain unaffected during the case pendency.
[Malwa Sonologist Society v. Union of India, 2024 SCC OnLine MP 8948, Decided on 17-12-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Shri Abhinav Dhanodkar and Shri L.C. Patne, Counsel for the Petitioners
Shri Himanshu Joshi, Dy. Solicitor General, Counsel for the Respondent/Union of India
Shri Bhuwan Deshmukh, Government Advocate, Counsel for the Respondent/State
Shri Piyush Dubey, Counsel for the Respondent/Intervener
