PATNA, India, July 30 -- Patna High Court issued the following judgment on July 14:

Heard Mr. Bhairaw Nand Sharma, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Jitendra Kumar, learned counsel appearing for National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences and Mr. Kumar Priya Ranjan, learned counsel representing the National Medical Commission.

2. The present writ application has been filed for quashing the order dated 04.10.2024 contained in Annexure P/5 issued by the Respondent No.5 on the ground that the impugned order was passed without due consideration of the representation filed by the petitioner on 06.09.2024 and without taking into consideration the order dated 28.08.2024 passed by this Court in CWJC No. 12456 of 2024 (Annexure P/3). The petitioner has further prayed for a direction to the Respondents to conduct re-evaluation/re-checking/scrutiny of the OMR/Answer sheet of the petitioner in the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination, June 2024 (FMGE, June 2024), particularly after uploading the corresponding question paper, Answer key and OMR sheet of the petitioner. Additionally, the prayer of the petitioner is for a direction to reduce the qualifying/pass marks to 147 or less in line with the relaxation granted in NEET-PG entrance examinations.

3. An Interlocutory Application no. 01 of 2025 has been filed by the petitioner praying therein for a direction to the Respondents to conduct re-evaluation and rechecking of the OMR answer sheet of the petitioner by constituting an expert committee comprising doctors/professors from AIIMS, New Delhi or any other reputed medical institution or college and to ensure that such evaluation is carried out in the presence of the petitioner.

4. The brief fact arising out of the present petition is that the petitioner after successfully passing the 10+2 examination, took admission in the MBBS course at Nobel Medical College, Biratnagar, Nepal which is affiliated with Kathmandu University, Kathmandu, Nepal. The petitioner has duly completed the MBBS course along with the mandatory one-year rotating internship and was awarded the MBBS degree in 2024 by the Nobel Medical College, Biratnagar, Nepal. After completing the said course, the petitioner applied for Foreign Medical Graduate Examination ( hereinafter 'FMGE') in June, 2024, which is a statutory requirement under law for obtaining registration with the Medical Council of India [now National Medical Commission ( Hereinafter, 'NMC')].

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner appeared in Foreign Medical Graduate Examination held in June, 2024 and as per petitioner's own evaluation and performance in the examination, she expected to secure more than 160 marks out of 300. However, to her utter surprise, the petitioner was declared failed having been awarded only 147 marks. 150 is the pass marks out of 300. Learned counsel further submits that several questions in said examination of FMGE June, 2024 were of a higher difficulty level akin to that of DM/M.Ch/NEET-SS level entrance examinations, which is beyond the expected standard for 'FMGE'. More than twelve questions were either wrong or had two correct answers, each supported by authoritative textbooks authored by different standard authors/publishers.

6. The petitioner submitted a representation before the concerned respondent authorities for redressal of her grievance and seeking re-evaluation/re-checking of her OMR answer-sheet. Since no action was taken on the representation of the petitioner, the petitioner was compelled to file writ application bearing CWJC No. 12456 of 2024 which was disposed of vide order dated 28.08.2024 with a direction to the petitioner to file a fresh representation along with all supporting documents before the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences, Medical Enclave, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi (Respondent No.3 herein). The Respondent No.3 was further directed to dispose of the said representation by passing a reasoned and speaking order within three weeks after affording a proper opportunity of hearing to the petitioner.

7. In pursuance thereof, the petitioner filed a fresh representation along with the supporting documents before the Respondent No.3 on 06.09.2024. It has further been submitted that the petitioner received phone call from the National Board of Examinations (NBE) on 03.10.2024 informing her that a Webinar/Online Personal hearing would be conducted on 04.10.2024 at 11:00 AM before the board. The Webinar was conducted and as per the petitioner, during the said Webinar, the members of the Board did not disclose their identities, nor did they ask any question about the specific grievance raised in the representation. The entire meeting lasted only for 15 minutes without any meaningful engagement or opportunity for the petitioner to be heard. The representation of the petitioner was summarily rejected in mechanical manner.

The rest of the document can be viewed at https://patnahighcourt.gov.in/viewjudgment/MTUjMTY0OTgjMjAyNCMxI04=-oLAD2apliOw=

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.