Name of the Case:  Dr. Rohit Kumar Vs Secretary Office of Lt. Governor of Delhi & Ors

Case Number: Civil Appeal No. 2739 OF 2021

Judges Name: Hon’ble Judges Indira Banerjee J, V. Ramasubramanian J.

Order dated: 15.07.2021

Facts of the case:

• The Appellant, a doctor, joined service of the Government of Delhi (‘Government’), as Medical Officer of the Emergency and Accidents Department at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. The Appellant duly completed five years of regular and continuous service with the Government and was eligible to avail Study Leave to pursue his post graduate course, in accordance with the Directives and Guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. On or about 20th October 2020, a policy decision was taken, not to grant any further Study Leave to the doctors working in the hospitals of the Government of NCT of Delhi, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• By an order dated 22nd January 2021, the Respondent No.1 rejected the application of the Appellant for Study Leave, having regard to the policy decision. On 31st January, 2020, admission to the post graduate courses in PGI, Chandigarh, for the 2020 session was closed, and the allotment of the Post Graduate seat to the Appellant was cancelled. The Appellant filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the action of the Respondent No. 1. The writ petition was dismissed by a Single Bench of the High Court, and an appeal therefrom, filed, was dismissed by the Division Bench of the High Court and hence the present appeal.

The Hon’ble Supreme Court held:

• The policy cannot continue indefinitely irrespective of changes in circumstances. The policy has necessarily to be reviewed from time to time and relaxed and/or modified once there is decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases in the NCT of Delhi. 
• The proposition of law which emerges from the judgments of this Court in S. Krishna Sradha vs. The State of Andhra Pradesh and Others and in National Medical Commission v. Mothukuru Sriyah Koumudi and Others is that in rare and exceptional cases, a meritorious candidate, who has suffered injustice by reason of his/her inability to secure admission in a medical course, whether under-graduate or postgraduate, due to no fault of his/her own, who has taken recourse to law promptly, without delay, might be granted relief of being accommodated in the same post in the next session. 
• Since the seat in the Post Graduate Course in PGI Chandigarh which remained unfilled due to the inability of the Appellant to join has been carried over to the July 2021 session which is yet to commence, and re-advertised, this Court deems it appropriate to direct the PGI, Chandigarh, being the Respondent No. 3 to admit the Appellant to the post graduate course scheduled to commence in July 2021, on the basis of INICET 2020, which he has successfully cleared.  

The appeal is, disposed of, accordingly. The impugned judgment and order of the Division Bench of the High Court and judgment and order of the Single Bench of the High Court are set aside.