NMC Act: Delhi High Court stays Centre’s direction to nominate members

It said that the government should not insist on nominations of members and sought a reply before the next date of hearing.

Central government’s standing counsel Monika Arora and advocates Harsh Ahuja and Kushal Sharma, appearing for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said that sections in the Act will be implemented at different stages and the government has nine months to notify the Act.

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Arora further apprised the court that as of now the Medical Council of India (MCI) is in place and it will be dissolved only after the NMC Act comes into force.

The court’s interim order came on a plea by Dr Anil Agarwal, who claims to be an elected member of the Delhi Medical Council (DMC).

In his plea, Agarwal claimed that he is aggrieved by the Centre’s direction, as there are no rules, regulations, guidelines or procedure to elect or nominate members from DMC for MAC under the NMC Act, 2019.

Agarwal has sought quashing of the Centre’s direction on August 9.

Earlier this month, more than 20,000 resident doctors from government hospitals went on strike and refrained from attending to OPDs and other routine services. The medical practitioners were protesting against the NMC Bill which was passed in Rajya Sabha on August 1 with some amendments. The Lok Sabha passed it on August 6.