Supreme Court issues notice in IMA plea seeking to permit PG Ayurveda qualified persons to practice modern surgeries

Mar 15, 2021

New Delhi [India], March 15 : The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice in the Indian Medical Association (IMA) plea challenging regulations seeking to permit PG Ayurveda qualified persons to practice modern surgeries.
"Supreme Court has issued a notice in the plea filed challenging the Regulations framed by Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) seeking to permit PG Ayurveda qualified persons to practice modern surgeries," read a press release by IMA.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India, S. A. Bobde, Justice Bopanna and Justice Ramasubramanian has issued the direction while hearing a PIL filed by the Indian Medical Association challenging the Regulations framed by the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) seeking to permit PG Ayurveda qualified persons to practice modem surgeries.
The Court has issued notice returnable in 4 weeks and asked the parties to file their replies and affidavits.
The plea filed by the Indian Medical Association has challenged the legality and validity of the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education Regulations 2016 as amended by the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations 2016 as amended by the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Amendment Regulations 2020.
IMA has stated in the plea that the impugned Regulations have been promulgated by the Central Council of Indian Medicine, and are beyond the power and jurisdiction of the CCIM. By issuing the impugned regulations, the CCIM has transgressed the boundaries of the Medicine Central Council Act 1970 enactment under which it has been created. The 1970 Act is in relation to the form of "Indian Medicine", distinct from the field of Modern Medicine.
The plea has stated that in addition to being contrary to the legislative policy declared by the Parliament the impugned Regulations, are also manifestly arbitrary and unreasonable, result in serious affront and prejudice to the constitutional and fundamental rights of the citizens of this country to receive proper and effective medical care and treatment.
The regulations also cause serious prejudice to the rights of millions of medical doctors across the country who have toiled hard and spent years of their life undergoing training for attaining adequate exposure, experience and qualifications for performing surgeries under the modern scientific system of medicine.