High Court pulls up institute

Delhi High Court recently ordered authorities at Safdarjung Hospital and the medical institute affiliated to it, Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC), to maintain an 'academic behaviour' in the institute. MiD DAY had reported on February 21 this year how one of the city's most renowned hospitals is under the scanner for alleged caste bias.

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According to a report collated by a forum of leading doctors, a large number of students at Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC), affiliated to the prestigious hospital, were facing problems of casteism. The report says, around 25 students from the department of physiology have been continuously failing in the examinations as they belong to reserved category.

Commission calling
The students were not even allowed to sit in the tests for a few days. The students also approached National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) and the high court for the same.

The commission also requested the ministry to look into the matter. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had written in a reply to National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) saying that the date of the delivery of the probe report against the college should be extended to March 10 from the erstwhile February 15 so that the matter could be examined properly. MiD DAY has a copy of both the letters.

In the recent development, the High Court on 8th of July has issued a notice to the medical institute saying that the authorities should maintain academic behaviour and students should not be victimised. "The matter is sub judice and the final hearing is on 28th of July. The students must be allowed to sit in the examination and they will not face any discrimination," said Ashok Panda, senior advocate.

The order
The copy of the HC order is exclusively with MiD DAY. "Without saying anything on the said score, we would ask registrar of the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University to oversee that the written as well as well as the practical examinations pertaining to the applicants are conducted in an atmosphere, which is suitable for conducting an examination of students, for which no student should feel or remotely harbour the idea that he is being treated with hostility," said the letter.