Institute of Legal and Management Studies

The Supreme Court will hear in July the plea challenging the non-payment of stipends to doctors undergoing their MBBS internships.

The counsel for the petitioners mentioned the matter before the bench of CJI BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih for urgent hearing saying that the students were not getting any stipend at all.

"The stipend of medical students is not being given; that matter was to be listed before J Dhulia on May 19, but didn't come. Students are getting zero stipend," the counsel submitted.

Notably, the plea is presently listed before the bench presided by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia.

The CJI assured that the plea would be listed for hearing during the period of partial working days when Justice Dhulia's bench presides in July.

The conversation went as follows :

CJI: "When is he supposed to sit in vacation?"

Adv: "July."

CJI: "Then we will list it before him"

Additionally, the counsel also mentioned that another petition has been filed similar to the pending challenge to NBE's decision to conduct NEETPG 2025 in two shifts.

Challenge To NEET PG 2025 Two-Shift Policy

The NBE's policy is under challenge as the candidates stress that it has the potential for unfairness due to varying difficulty levels between shifts. It seeks direction to the National Board of Examinations to conduct the NEET-PG 2025 in a single shift to maintain "just, fair, reasonable and equitable" grounds of competition for all the candidates.

There is a likelihood that one batch of candidates may face a more difficult question paper than the other batch, as happened in the case of NEET PG 2024, where it was alleged that the question paper in the second shift was easier. Therefore, it is prayed that the NEET PG 2025 be conducted in a single shift, as noted in the petition.

Yesterday, the NEET-PG 2025 candidates requested the Supreme Court for an urgent hearing of the matter. Notably, the matter was mentioned earlier on May 23 before the bench led by CJI Gavai and the Court had agreed to hear the matter in the last week of May.

Challenge To Non-Payment Of Stipends

In April 2024, the Court issued a clear directive to the National Medical Commission (NMC) to submit details regarding the stipend status of medical colleges across all States.

The Court noted that the NMC has not given the details of the entire medical colleges in all States and hence, the earlier direction given on September 15, 2023, has not been complied with.

In the direction passed on September 15, 2023 the Court had asked the NMC to file a tabulated chart and explain (i) whether it is true that 70% of the medical colleges in the country do not pay any stipend to interns or pay an amount that is less than the minimum set stipend (ii) what steps the NMC is taking to ensure compliance with the norm of paying internship stipend.

Notably, the bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice K Vinod Chandran is also considering a plea challenging the non-payment of stipends to foreign medical graduates (FMGs) interning at Indian Hospitals/ Medical Institutions.