"This Is Like Bonded Labour": Supreme Court On MBBS Interns Working Without Stipends; Asks, 'What Is NMC Doing?'

The Supreme Court on Monday (October 15) expressed grave concerns regarding the non-payment of stipends to MBBS interns, likening the situation to "bonded labor". A bench comprising of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra was hearing a plea as per which 70 percentage of medical colleges do not pay any stipend or are not paying the minimum set stipend to doctors who are doing MBBS internships. The CJI remarked–

"This is like bonded labour. These are all students who have finished 4 years...what is NMC doing? They allow big colleges to take crores and these poor students who work at 20 hrs a day, they're not paid at all."

In the last hearing, the court had directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to respond to the complaint raised to file a tabulated chart and explain (i) whether the above statement regarding lack of stipend for medical interns was true and (ii) what steps the NMC was taking to ensure compliance with norm of paying internship stipend.

Advocate Gaurav Sharma, appearing for NMC today, sought four weeks time to file a response in the matter. The time was accordingly granted.

The larger issue raised in the petition filed by medical interns was pertaining to the payment of stipend by the Army College of Medical Sciences (ACMS).

In the last hearing, Senior Advocate Colonel (Retired) R Balasubramanium, appearing for the ACMS, submitted that the colleges are run by the Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) on a no-profit basis with the intention of serving the children of armed personnel. The senior counsel had pointed out that the institution was not receiving any governmental aid. However, the bench had stated that financial constraints cannot be a reason to deny stipend to the students and had directed the ACMS to start paying Rs. 25,000 per month as stipend to the medical interns.

Today, the bench was informed that the interns in question had been paid as per the court's directions.  

The petitioners were represented by Advocate Tanvi Dubey. 

Case Title: Abhishek Yadav and others v. Army College of Medical Sciences | W.P.(C) No. 730/2022