Court orders govt to return medico’s papers

Court orders govt to return medico’s papers

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:20.09.2021

The Gujarat high court ordered the state government to return original documents to a medical student after completion of his MBBS studies. The documents were withheld over him not submitting a bond of Rs 2 lakh during his studies in lieu of one-year service in rural areas.

While directing the authorities to return the documents to Neil Ramesh Patel, who was admitted to a GMERS college in 2015, Justice Bhargav Karia told the government lawyer, “You cannot retain original documents for any fault committed by the student.” The judge was of the view that there is no rule that empowers the government to withhold original documents, and the rules stipulate that the government has to return documents as soon as the admission process gets over.

The student was against executing the bond since the beginning, and his medical studies were completed without having tendered the bond.

The government did not return his documents including marksheets and certificates. The student’s father moved the high court complaining that the government’s withholding of his son’s original documents and not issuing him a certificate for his medical studies would adversely affect his son’s career immediately, particularly his plans to go abroad.

The state government tried to defend its withholding of the documents and argued that returning them would set a bad example. To this, Justice Karia said, “This will rather set a correct example for all institutes, that they cannot withhold students’ documents.” After the high court assumed this strict posture, the government conceded and told the court that the district collector would initiate proceedings against the student for recovery of the bond amount.

This did not go down well with the court, and the judge said that the authority can do anything permissible under law for recovery, but it has no right to retain the student’s documents. It cannot ruin the student’s career without any reason, particularly for its own fault to execute the bond at the beginning of the course.