1 2025:CGHC:3824-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 441 of 2025 Prabhakar Pradhan S/o Shri Virendra Pradhan Aged About 31 Years R/o Ward No. 5, Paterapali, Saraipali, District Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - State of Chhattisgarh Through The Secretary, Department of Health And Family Welfare, Mantralaya, Mahanadi Bhawan, Atal Nagar, Naya Raipur, District Raipur, Chhattisgarh 2 - Directorate of Medical Education Through Its Director, D.K.S. Bhawan, Raipur, District Raipur, Chhattisgarh 3 - The Director Health Services Indravati Bhawan, Capital Complex, New Raipur, District Raipur, Chhattisgarh 4 - National Medical Commission Through Its Chairman, Pocket-14, Phase- 1, Sector 8, Dwarka, New Delhi, 110077, District- New Delhi, Delhi 5 - Commissioner Medical Education, Chhattisgarh Health Bhawan, 2nd Floor, North Block, Sector 19, Nava Raipur, Atal Nagar, District Raipur, Chhattisgarh 6 - Bhavesh Patel S/o Paleshwar Patel R/o Village Kauhakuda, District Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh ... Respondent(s) For Petitioner : Mr. Shahil Singh, Advocate For respondent/State : Mr. Shashank Thakur, Dy. A.G. For respondent No.4/NMC : Mr. Samarth Marhas holding brief of Mr. R.S. Marhas, Advocate Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Ravindra Kumar Agrawal , Judge Order on Board ROHIT KUMAR CHANDRA Digitally signed by ROHIT KUMAR CHANDRA Date: 2025.01.23 18:39:29 +0530 2 Per Ramesh Sinha , Chief Justice 22 . 01 .202 5 1. Heard Mr. Shahil Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner as well as Mr. Shashank Thakur, learned Deputy Advocate General, appearing for the State/respondent Nos. 1 to 3 & 5 and Mr.Samarth Marhas holding brief of Mr. R.S. Marhas, learned counsel, appearing for respondent No.4/NMC. 2. The petitioner has filed this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, with the following prayer:- “10.1. This Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to call for the entire records in relation to the rules concerning the allotment of bonus and incentive marks to the in- service candidates, aspiring for the NEET PG-2024 courses. 10.2 This Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue direction(s)/order(s) to the respondent authorities to consider the case of the petitioner and thereby, grant him 30 percent bonus marks or appropriate bonus marks, in view of his period of experience as in service candidate in the Difficult Schedule Area (vide Annexure P/1), in light of the MCI rules, State Government rules and circular, concerning the grant of bonus to in service candidates (vide Annexure P/3). 10.3 The Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to pass an order that the result of CG-NEET PG (MD/MS) 2024 and the provisional allotment list issued pursuant to the aforesaid result will be subject to outcome of the instant petition. 3 10.4 That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to grant such other relief(s) in favour of the petitioner, as it may deem fit and proper in the interest of justice.” 3. Brief facts for disposal of this writ petition, are that, the petitioner, holding a degree of MBBS, has worked as Medical Officer (Contractual) under District Hospital, Narayanpur, District Narayanpur (C.G.) from period of 03.03.2021 till 02.06.2022 i.e., for period of 1 years, 2 months and 29 days, thereby, he was relieved to the new place of posting i.e., Late Shri Baliram Kashyap Memorial Govt. Medical College, Dimrapal, Jagdalpur, District Bastar, to be posted as Demonstrator in the Deptt. of Pathology, by way of Government order dated 02.06.2022. Thenceforth, the petitioner is working as Demonstrator in Deptt. of Pathology at L.S.B.R.K.M. Govt. Medical College Dimrapal, Jagdalpur from 03.06.2022 till date., i.e., for period of more than 2 years as of now. So, in total the petitioner has more than 3 years of experience in most difficult core schedule area i.e., Narayanpur and Jagdalpur, as in service candidate. The petitioner desirous of seeking admission to Post Graduate Courses in the Medical Colleges, appeared in the National Eligibility Entrance Examination (NEET) PG-2024. His result was declared on 15th July, 2024, wherein he got 81 percentile and successfully got the NEET PG 2024 Rank of 40953. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the respondent authorities have not granted any bonus marks to the petitioner, despite the fact that the petitioner has worked as Medical Officer 4 (Contractual) under District Hospital, Narayanpur, District Narayanpur (C.G.) from period of 03.03.2021 till 02.06.2022 i.e., for period of 1 years, 2 months and 29 days, thereby, he was relieved to the new place of posting i.e., Late Shri Baliram Kashyap Memorial Govt. Medical College, Dimrapal, Jagdalpur, District Bastar, to be posted as Demonstrator in the Deptt. of Pathology, by way of Government order dated 02.06.2022. Thenceforth, the petitioner is working as Demonstrator in Deptt. Of Pathology at L.S.B.R.K.M. Govt. Medical College Dimrapal, Jagdalpur from 03.06.2022 till date i.e., for period of more than 2 years as of now. So, in total the petitioner has more than 3 years of experience in most difficult core schedule area i.e., Narayanpur and Jagdalpur, as in service candidate. He further submitted that the petitioner desirous of seeking admission to Post Graduate Courses in the Medical Colleges, appeared in the National Eligibility Entrance Examination (NEET) PG-2024. His result was declared on 15th July, 2024, wherein he got 81 percentile and successfully got the NEET PG 2024 Rank of 40953. He also submitted that as per the rules of MCI and State Government concerning allotment of bonus marks to the in-service candidate, the petitioner ought to have granted maximum 30 percent bonus marks or any appropriate bonus as per his period of working as in service candidate in Difficult Schedule Area (For almost 3 years, combining service in Narayanpur and Jagdalpur), in light of the rules, of the total percentile, which he got in NEET PG-2024 5 result. But, due to non-allotment of any bonus marks as per rules, the petitioner, though selected his choice of Department at First and Second Round of Counselling for NEET PG Course, was not selected in both the counseling. The third counselling as per NEET-PG Schedule-2024, is schedule from 26 December, 2024 to 18th January, 2025 for All India Quota/Deemed and Central Universities and for State Counselling, schedule is from 18th January, 2025 to 28th January, 2025. The petitioner is aspiring to get his desirous/choice of department in the third counselling. 5. On the other hand, learned State counsel opposed the aforesaid submission and submits that the petitioner has prayed for grant of 30% bonus marks or appropriate bonus marks in view of the fact that he has worked in the difficult scheduled areas i.e. in the District Hospital Narayanpur, from 03.03.2021 to 02.06.2022 and in late Shri Baliram Kashyap Govt. Medical College from 03.06.2022 to till date. However, the petitioner is not entitled for the bonus marks for the services rendered by him in Medical College, Jagdalpur, District- Bastar, as the said institute is not included in the list maintained under the Chhattisgarh Rural Medical Corps. (CRMC) by the department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Chhattisgarh and at the maximum the petitioner is entitled for the bonus marks for the services rendered in Narayanpur. It has been contended by the counsel for the respondent that the petitioner was very well aware that for claiming bonus marks he was required to submit an application for 6 issuance of the certificate with respect to that but the petitioner has not submitted any such application. It has been contended that rule 12 of the Chhattisgarh Medical Post Graduate Admissions Rules 2021, provide that the admission in the available seats in medical colleges would be done according to the prescribed counseling process decided by the government. It is further submitted that the office of the Commissioner, Medical Education pursuant to the declaration of the NEET PG, 2024 result issued a public notice on 30.10.2024 which is annexed at page No.28 of the petition, wherein it has been clearly provided that all the in-service candidates who are desirous to participate in the NEET:PG (MD/MS) 2024 are required to submit the service certificate as provided in schedule 3 and 4. The service certificate in schedule 4 is with respect to the grant of bonus for in-service candidate who have worked as a doctor in the most difficult area or normal schedule area, as categorized by the order dated 23.03.2020. In order to obtain the said certificate the candidate is required to submit an application, the petitioner did not submit such application hence he was not awarded any bonus marks for the service rendered by him in Narayanpur. 6. We have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the documents annexed with the writ petition with utmost circumspection. 7. Clause 9(a) of the Rules of 2021 reads as under for ready reference :- 7 **9- lsokjr vH;FkhZ dks fuEukuqlkj cksul vad fn;s tk;saxs%& ¼d½ NRrhlx<+ 'kklu }kjk fu/kkZfjr nqxZe vuqlwfpr {ks= esa lsok ds izR;sd iw.kZ o"kZ ds fy, izos’k ijh{kk esa izkIrkad ds 10 izfr’kr vad gksxkA** 8. Paragraph-4 of the order dated 23.03.2020 issued by the Government of Chhattisgarh, Health and Family Welfare Department, Mantralaya, Mahanadi Bhawan, Atal Nagar, Nawa Raipur is relevant for the purpose, which is reproduced below for easy reference :- **4@ mDr vuqdze esa] jkT; 'kklu ,rn~}kjk] NRrhlx<+ fpfdRlk LukrdksRrj izos’k fu;e] 2018 ds fu;e 7¼[k½¼N½ dh ifjf’k"V&3 esa mYYksf[kr {ks=ksa dks foHkkxh; ifji= fnukad 07-03-2020 }kjk lh-vkj-,e-lh- {ks=ksa esa oxhZd`r Difficult Most rFkk Inaccessible {ks= dks **nqxZe vuqlwfpr {ks=** rFkk Difficult {ks= dks **lkekU; vuqlwfpr {ks=** ?kksf"kr djrk gSA** 9. A plain reading of the said paragraph of the order dated 23.03.2020 would reflect that the "Most Difficult" and "Inaccessible" area has now been categorized as "Most Difficult Area" and the "Difficult Area" area has now been categorized as "Normal Scheduled Area". 10. From perusal of the pleadings of the writ petition as well as documents annexed thereto, it transpires that the petitioner has prayed for grant of 30% bonus marks or appropriate bonus marks 8 in view of the fact that he has worked in the difficult scheduled areas i.e. in the District Hospital Narayanpur, from 03.03.2021 to 02.06.2022 and in late Shri Baliram Kashyap Govt. Medical College from 03.06.2022 to till date. However, the petitioner is not entitled for the bonus marks for the services rendered by him in Medical College, Jagdalpur, District- Bastar, as the said institute is not included in the list maintained under the Chhattisgarh Rural Medical Corps. (CRMC) by the department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Chhattisgarh and at the maximum the petitioner is entitled for the bonus marks for the services rendered in Narayanpur. 11. It further transpires that the office of the Commissioner, Medical Education pursuant to the declaration of the NEET PG, 2024 result issued a public notice on 30.10.2024 which is annexed at page No.28 of the petition, wherein it has been clearly provided that all the in-service candidates who are desirous to participate in the NEET:PG (MD/MS) 2024 are required to submit the service certificate as provided in schedule 3 and 4. The service certificate in schedule 4 is with respect to the grant of bonus for in-service candidate who have worked as a doctor in the most difficult area or normal schedule area, as categorized by the order dated 23.03.2020. In order to obtain the said certificate the candidate is required to submit an application, the petitioner did not submit such application hence he was not awarded any bonus marks for the service rendered by him in Narayanpur. As such, there is no 9 illegality or infirmity in not awarding any bonus marks to the petitioner on the part of the respondents. 12. Considering the matter in its entirety, we are of the firm view that the petitioner could not able to point out any arbitrariness, unreasonableness and malafide in the action taken on the part of the respondent authorities while not granting incentive/bonus marks as per clause 9 (a) of the Rules of 2021. 13. For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any tenable ground to grant relief as sought for. The writ petition lacks merit, is liable to be and is hereby dismissed. No order as to cost(s). Sd/- Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) (Ramesh Sinha) Judge Chief Justice Chandra