“This Is Like Bonded Labour”: Supreme Court Over No Stipend Paid To MBBS Interns, Issues Notice To Delhi Govt To Constitute Fee Regulatory Committee

The Court made certain observations during the course of arguments on Monday. Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud noted that before the Court's earlier order dated September 15, 2023, the interns were not paid at all, and said, “This is like bonded labour. These are all young people who have finished four and a half years of education…”. It is pertinent to note that the Court in that order directed ACMS to pay a stipend of Rs 25,000 per month to each of the present batch of interns and continue to do so on a monthly basis, commencing from 1 October 2023.

Accordingly, the bench also comprising Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra on the submissions made on behalf of ACMS observed, “…the Fee Regulatory Authority has not been constituted by the Delhi Government, as a result of which the first respondent is unable to move the committee in terms of the previous directions of this Court. Notice shall issue to the NCT of Delhi…”.

Advocate Vaibhav Gaggar appeared for the petitioner, Senior Advocate R. Balasubramanian appeared for ACMS and AOR Gaurav Sharma for the National Medical Commission.

During the arguments, on the submissions made by the respondent-college, CJI noted, “Total amount of Rs. 26.25 lakhs for 105 students was paid. The first respondent (ACMS) shall continue to make the payment to the interns of the present batch”.

To which Balasubramanian said, “Unfortunately the State Fee Regulatory Committee has not been constituted so far. We have actually written to the Delhi Government…”.

However, when Gaggar attempted to make submissions on the fees charged from the students, CJI remarked, “Where does the money come from? it is not like one of those commercial institutions”.

“The fees as is being charged already, while it is subsidised for the tuition fee over here, the accommodation etc. they are still spending about 3 lakhs a year…so effectively what is happening today as far as a student is concerned, he is paying for 5 years...and then he is going to the rural area”, Gaggar again submitted.

On that, CJI turned towards Sharma to ask, “Mr Gaurav Sharma, now tell us, how many more such colleges are there in the country who don’t pay anything to the interns”. However, as a response, Sharma sought more time from the Court to compile the data, as some states are yet to file their responses. To that, Gaggar reminded that more than 70% of the colleges in the country face an issue.

“Mr Sharma you must tell us what you are going to do to ensure that the colleges comply, you are the NMC. This is like bonded labour. These are all young people who have finished four and a half years of education…On one hand, we allow all these big colleges to charge capitation fee and crores of rupees, but these poor students who work twenty hours a day, they are not paid anything at all”, CJI further remarked.

For the background, the Army College of Medical Sciences is conducted by the Army Welfare Education Society, a society registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860. The college is affiliated to the Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University. The petitioners completed their internship as part of the five-year MBBS degree course in 2023. The college engages 100 interns in one batch, however, it was alleged that none of them is paid any stipend. Further, the National Medical Commission (Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship) Regulations 2021, Clause 3 of Schedule IV required that a stipend should be paid as fixed by the appropriate authority applicable to the institution/University or State.

In the last hearing, Balasubramanian, had submitted that the fees for medical education are fixed by the State Fee Regulatory Committee. As a result, the college is not in a position to unilaterally increase the fees and, as a matter of fact, the fee has been reduced for the current year from Rs 4,32,000 to 3,20,500.

The bench, however, in the September order noted, “The first respondent is granted permission to move the State Fee Regulatory Committee with a statement of likely financial impact consequent upon the payment of stipend as directed. The State Fee Regulatory Committee shall within a period of one month make a determination on whether any enhancement in the fees would be necessary to meet the additional outgoing on the above head bearing in mind that the facilities which are provided to the students are stated to be substantially subsidized”.

It also observed, “The interns are required to be paid a stipend during the period of internship. The mandate of the Regulations adopted by the National Medical Commission cannot be breached. At the same time, we bear in mind the circumstance that the Army College of Medical Sciences is being run as a welfare measure for children of serving or retired members of the Armed Forces and is, strictly speaking, not a commercial institution run for profit”.