MHC orders two med colleges to pay pending stipends to the students

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has made it clear that the medical colleges cannot deny the payment of stipends to the students for the work they have performed as resident doctors.

The first division bench of the Madras High Court (MHC) comprising Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu, observed that the college cannot deny the payment of stipend to the students, who have already paid the fees as directed by this court from time to time. The payment of stipend being a statutory liability of the college, it would not be open for the college to deny the payment of the same to the students, the bench observed.

The medical colleges are duty-bound and have a legal obligation to pay the said amount to the students and cannot deny the same on the ground of equitable set-off, read the judgment.

Henceforth, the bench dismissed the petition filed by medical colleges and ordered to pay the stipend to the students within six weeks, the bench ruled.

Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, and Aarupadai Veedu Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry moved the MHC challenging the order issued by the single judge of the court in 2020.

Senior counsels Vijay Narayanan and PR Raman appeared for the medical colleges. They contended that the students have not paid the fees, as was prescribed in the brochure at the time of taking admission. The dispute was settled in the MHC, the court ordered the student to pay the pending fee, added the senior counsels.

If a Postgraduate student claims payment of the stipend, then he must be alive to the fact that the fee towards education received is also to be paid, they argued. As per the Medical Council of India (MCI), Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000 the entitlement of stipend is directly relatable to the payment of the full fee, they contended and sought to set aside the single judge order.

Advocate VBR Menon appeared for the students, said that the payment of fees by the students and the payment of statutory stipends by the colleges are two distinct transactions and cannot be called the same transaction. He further argued that the students did not neglect or avoid the payment of fees as per the orders of this court. "An interim arrangement was made and the students were paid as per the interim arrangement and then only, they were allowed to appear for examination", he contended.

The students have paid excess fees, prescribed by the Puducherry Fee Committee. After having extracted the full-time service of the students for three years, denying them a stipend is unreasonable, he argued.

More than 15 students from both the colleges moved to the MHC seeking to direct the college to pay the stipend money for their service as resident doctors from 2017-18 to 2019-20. Subsequently, the single judge ordered the colleges to pay the stipend amount.