Patna, June 23: The high court today sought responses from the state government, Medical Council of India (MCI) and Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) on a petition challenging the provision that only those having MBBS degree from recognised Indian universities could apply for the appointment to the post of government doctors.

A bench of Justice Ramesh Kumar Datta asked the state government, BPSC and MCI to file their counter affidavit within four weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on July 21.While passing the direction, Justice Datta also directed the commission not to reject the applications submitted by the petitioners till the next hearing.

Two candidates — Satyendra Kumar and Avinash Kumar — have approached the court challenging the provision contained in the BPSC’s advertisement dated June 4, which says only those candidates having MBBS degrees from recognised Indian universities can apply for the doctor’s job.

Both Satyendra and Avinash completed their MBBS from Russia in 1999 and 2007 respectively and since the criteria stipulated by the commission disqualifies them from even submitting applications to become government doctors, they moved with a plea to strike down the provision and allow all the candidates to make applications who have been recognised and registered by the MCI.

The commission on June 4 came out with an advertisement for the appointment of 1,510 general duty medical officers (GDMO), commonly known as government doctors. The candidates desirous of becoming government doctors can make applications latest by July 4.

Petitioners’ advocate Prashant Sinha submitted that as per the provisions in the Indian Medical Council Act 1956, both the degrees issued by Indian universities and foreign universities are equal in all respects. The discrimination made by the BPSC against foreign degree holders is violative of the article 14 and 16 of the Constitution.