I n a judgment that will change the way heads of departments are designated in medical institutes, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that a non-medico qualified to be a professor cannot be denied the post. The court, in its 164-page judgment, ruled that it would have struck down a clause whereby the qualification of MBBS or equivalent has been prescribed for designation as the HoD. However, the clause was being “read down to save it from unconstitutionality”.
The judgment by the Justice came more than four years after the Medical Council of India’s executive committee considered a Council Assessors’ report before noting that the HoDs of pre and paraclinical departments could not be non-medical degree holders. Designated as HoDs of the Pharmacology and Anatomy departments at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, in January 2008 and September 2010,…
