The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to give internship stipend arrears within two weeks to 11 medical students who completed their primary medical education from foreign institutions and qualified as Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs).
The petitioner-FMGs were currently doing internship at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh, a constituent college of AMU.
Appearing for the petitioners, Advocate Charu Mathur contended that they were aggrieved by the non-payment of stipends given to them, as compared to Indian Medical Graduates (IMGs) at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) undergoing Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI).
The Bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Aravind Kumar directed the varsity to disburse the stipend of Rs 26,300 per month to the petitioners within two weeks, at par with IMGs.
The petitioners contnded that IMGs were being paid Rs 26,300 as stipend by the AMU. In contrast, FMGs at other central universities like BHU were also being paid the same amount. However, the FMGs at the AMU were not being paid any stipend, which amounted to unreasonableness.
The petitioners cited Clause 3 (Schedule IV) of the National Medical Commission (Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship) Regulations, 2021, which provided mandatory stipend to all medical interns. As per the Clause, all interns should be paid a stipend as fixed by the appropriate authority applicable to the institution/University or State.
The stipend may not be paid during any period of extension except in the case of maternity or paternity leave or medical leave, as may be recommended and approved by the Medical Board. Total stipend paid for the entire internship may be for 52 weeks (12 months) only, it added.
Citing the Annual Report for 2023-2024, which showed the balance of Rs 83.3117 crore under the salary head allotted to AMU, the petitioners claimed that the varsity was not disbursing the funds allocated to it by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The petitioners contended that despite having access to necessary funds, the respondent University was unjustifiably delaying the payment of stipends to them, perpetuating an unjust and discriminatory situation. The total sum due for the 11 FMG petitioners over 12 months was Rs 34,71,600, they added.