BENGALURU: In a relief to 447 medical graduates, the Karnataka High Court has ruled that they need not undergo the one-year compulsory rural service as per the bond signed by them, as the law enacted in 2012 was not published in the official gazette till July 2022.
The petitioners, who wrote the CET in 2015 and joined MBBS courses, challenged the notification issued on June 8, 2021, which mandated that every MBBS candidate under the government quota, who graduated in 2021, has to undergo the compulsory rural service and execute a bond to that effect. After the notification in question was issued, the state government issued a corrigendum on June 17, 2021, directing the candidates who get admitted to MBBS courses under the government quota to do the rural service, failing which, they have to pay a fine of not less than Rs 15 lakh which may extend up to Rs 30 lakh, after completing their courses. The corrigendum, however, was published in the gazette in 2022.
The corrigendum was quashed for the 447 petitioners since the government notified the amended rules to impose a penalty in 2012, but published them in the official gazette in 2022, a decade after the rules were amended. However, the court granted liberty to the state government to bring in any circular or corrigendum or even a law in tune with the rule now gazetted.
“The state appears to have been in deep slumber or having a siesta for 10 years,” said Justice M Nagaprasanna, while partly allowing the petition filed in 2021 and 2022 by the students, questioning the legislation and the corrigendum.