D A RASHID
Srinagar, Sep 12: Dismissing the appeal of two candidates against the appointment of a lecturer in Government Medical College Jammu, the High Court held that the appeal was not maintainable because they were not eligible for the post on the last date for the submission of the application forms fixed by the Public Service Commission.
 The Court had earlier reserved the judgment after hearing the arguments of senior counsels Zaffar Ahmad Shah and Bashir Ahmad Bashir.
 The Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice, F M Ibrahim Kalifulla and Justice M Y Mir held that MCI Act of 1956 being mandatory in nature can not be ignored when it comes to making an appointment of medical institutions.
 Senior counsel, Z A Shah argued before the division bench that regulations of 1998 and amendment to section 10 and 10 A of the MCA  have been effected vide 42nd amendment of the constitution carried out in 1976 and were not applicable on Jammu and Kashmir State.
 Senior Counsel, Bashir Ahmad Bashir, on the other side argued that the 42nd amendment did not affect the sections of the MCI.
 PSC had advertised the post of lecturer in Cardio Vascular Thoracic Surgery (CVTS) on March 6, 2007 for GMC under Medical Education Gazetted Rules of 1979 for which the requisite qualification was M.Ch, besides three years experience and the last date for filing the application was fixed on April 19, 2007.
 Three candidates, Dr Sham Sing, Dr Ishtiyaq and Dr Kohli had applied against the post in keeping with their qualifications as MCH.
 Dr Kohli has done MCH from Pondicherry which was not recognized by the Medical Council of India and Dr Sham challenged his candidature by filing a writ petition in the court on the grounds that he had a degree from unrecognized Institution.
 Dr Ishtiaq, who had a degree from the SKIMS which was not recognized by MCI also filed an application before the court to become a party to the case.
 While the case was pending before the court, MCI recognized the MCH degree of SKIMS in February, 2009 with retrospective effect from 1995 and the JIMPER (Pondichary) was recognized in 2008 after the parliament passed an act to recognize it.
 Following the recognition of the SKIMS and JIMPER, the focus of the writ petition was shifted to the recognition of the two institutes with retrospective effect.
 Counsel for Dr Sham Singh, Bashir Ahmad Bashir, informed the court that both Dr Kohli and Dr Istiaq were not eligible on the last date that was fixed by the PSC for the submission of the application forms and the recognition of the two institutes with retrospective effect would not make them eligible for the lecturer’s post.
 The single bench had pronounced the order in favor of Sham Singh on the basis that on the last date of submission of the applications, the other two candidates were not eligible for the post.
 Following the writ court order, the two candidates filed Letter Patent Appeals in the DB challenging the order.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:30:00 GMT
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