HADIYA CHISTI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petition in hand poses a unique problem calling for a unique resolution by this Court. This petition has arisen out of refusal by the respondent No.3 to permit the petitioner to appear in the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination/Screening Test conducted by the National Board of Examination i.e. respondent No.3, for want of eligibility certificate issued by respondent No.2 in favour of the petitioner. It may be noted that, because of intervention of this Court shown from time to time in this petition, the petitioner has been provisionally allowed to sit in the Screening Test - Session 2019. She is stated to have obtained 156 marks out of 300 and qualified the Screening Test. This has been taken note of by this Court in its interim order dated 11.09.2019. Since the participation of the petitioner in the Screening Test was on provisional basis and pursuant to the interim direction passed by this Court, such, the issues raised in this petition are required to be integrity of this document determined to find out as to whether petitioner is entitled to be enrolled on the Medical Register maintained by the State Medical Council or in the Indian Medical Register, as the case may be. The issues raised in this petition for determination are significant in view of the peculiar position of a part of Indian territory which is under the occupation and administrative control of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and is referred to as Pak Occupied Kashmir "POK".

(2.) Before this Court proceeds to deal with the issues raised in this petition, it would be necessary to take note of contextual facts leading to the filing of this petition.

(3.) The petitioner is a permanent resident of State of Jammu and Kashmir (now Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. and, therefore, a citizen of India. She qualified her 10+2 examination from J&K State Board of School Education, Srinagar. She being eligible to undergo MBBS degree, applied to Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Medical College, Mirpur (hereinafter referred to as the Medical College., situated in POK. She got admission and pursued her MBBS course in the aforesaid Medical College. It is not disputed before this Court that the Medical College aforesaid is recognized by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC., an equivalent of Medical Council of India. The College is also stated to be listed under Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education Research (FAIMER. In short, it is not in dispute that the medical college, wherefrom petitioner has obtained her MBBS degree, is a recognized medical college in Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The correspondence between High Commission of India at Islamabad with the Government of Pakistan bears testimony to the aforesaid facts.