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Supreme Court bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer and Indu Malhotra declined to consider a plea to limit service bond period for super speciality courses, to maximum two years and penalty up to Rs 20 lakh in states.
Supreme Court allowed Senior advocate Vivek Tankha, who represented the Association to withdraw their plea to pursue their other remedies.
The Association of Medical Super Speciality Aspirants and Residents had earlier challenged the validity of different bond conditions in States of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal for being violative of Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution.
There were varying conditions in different States. In Tamil Nadu, a doctor, who completed super speciality course has to serve for 10 years in the State and in default pay Rs two Crores.
Central government constituted a Committee in September 2019 to formulate a uniform policy on compulsory bonds after deliberations with 19 state authorities. The panel recommended that in case the super speciality students, they should be taken as a contractual staff against a vacancy commensurate with their qualification and position.
In fresh application, the Association of Medical Super Speciality Aspirants and Residents and others sought implementation of the panel recommendations within one month. Among others.
Association also pleaded for posting only in jobs, commensurate with their qualifications and salary, and in their respective super speciality departments with adequate facilities, preferably in Medical Colleges.
