Eligibility norms must be left to PGI's technical bodies: HC

The Punjab and Haryana high court has refused its intervention in an admission case to a technical course at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), opining that eligibility norms must be left only to the medical institute's technical bodies.

The Punjab and Haryana high court has refused its intervention in an admission case to a technical course at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), opining that eligibility norms must be left only to the medical institute's technical bodies.

The court was hearing a case wherein the petitioner, an operation theatre assistant (OTA), had contended that the post of OTA could not be considered equivalent to central sterile supply department (CSSD) assistants (sterilisation of equipment assistants) for admission to BSc medical technology (operation theatre) course.

Stating that the line was truly thin between various subjects of study, the court of justice K Kannan stated, "In my view, it cannot be appropriately done by the court, for, it lacks the technical expertise to know whether the knowledge obtained through experience in one area would be sufficient for a course in a specialised area."

However, justice Kannan stated that in future it would always be desirable that there was a great degree of certainty brought in the prospectus itself.

The petitioner, Jagdish, had challenged the admission criterion to the course due to which two CSSD assistants got placed above in the merit against him. He had contended that in the manner of treatment of the subject of operation theatre, the subject of sterilisation was indeed very limited. However, the court ruled that the prospectus itself stated operation theatre assistants, anaesthesia technicians, theatre masters, as falling in one category and others, such as CSSD technicians, spelt out as equivalent.