Medical Admission: Gujarat HC upholds domicile rule

The Gujarat High Court on Monday upheld the state government’s rule that mandates a domicile certificate and passing class 10 and 12 standards from Gujarat schools for seeking admission to medical colleges in the state. The Division Bench led by Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy rejected petitions filed by students challenging the rules amended by the state government.

The high court, however, asked the government to consider giving admission to those candidates who were domiciles of Gujarat but had passed Class 10 from other states. The court said, “Whether requirement of passing of class 10 from a school in the State of Gujarat as existed earlier to be continued or not, needs consideration by the respondent State.”

The court added that the state government should take a decision on it “without loss of any time”. The students had argued that they were not given enough time to prepare or plan their future before the rules were amended, thus creating uncertainty.

The state government had defended its rule while submitting that between 2015-2016 and 2016-2017, when the requirement of having passed class 12 from a Gujarat school was compulsory, students from other states would come to the state to study in class 12 in order to get admission in the MBBS courses.

However, after completion of their MBBS courses they would go back to their respective states. “Thus students of the state were deprived of getting admission,” the government affidavit stated.

In view of this, in 2017-2018, state government amended the law and brought another rule making class 10 and 12 necessary along with a domicile certificate.

It was argued, “It is well-known that imparting medical education by medical colleges requires finance to maintain it and it is reasonable on part of state government to see that advantage of educational system prevalent in the state would yield benefit to the state.”
News Source (Indian Express)