Rural service made mandatory for medical graduates

June 4, 2015

Bengaluru, Jun 4: Medical graduates of all colleges will henceforth mandatorily have to do rural service for an year in the state. This service rule applies to all quotas of medical seats including NRI and management quotas in medical colleges.

The rural service rule has become more stringent with the President of India giving assent to the Karnataka Compulsory Service Training by Candidates Completed Medical Courses Bill, 2012, making one year rural service compulsory for medical doctors in the State.

Giving the details of the Act, Minister of State for Medical Education Sharan Prakash Patil on Wednesday said the government would take steps to give effect to the new legislation at the earliest.

Health Minister U?T?Khader, who welcomed the Act, said the law would come into effect retrospectively. However, he did not specify the year from which it would come into force.

Patil said that implementation of the new law would help the government to solve the problem of shortage of doctors, especially specialists, in the government hospitals in rural areas. About 5,000 undergraduates and postgraduates pass out every year in the State. One year compulsory rural service will ensure that all primary health centres and district hospitals have enough doctors, he added.

As per the provisions of the Act, all MBBS, PG diploma, PG and superspeciality doctors should serve in rural areas for a year. The government will pay a monthly stipend for their service. Serving in rural areas for one year will make them eligible for permanent registration under the Karnataka Medical Registration Act, 1961, or the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. “Those who refuse to do rural service will not get their degree certificate. Besides, penalty will be imposed on them,” the minister said.

However, the minister said the government will have the power to relax the rules and allow the doctors to obtain their degree certificates without the rural service. If a MBBS doctor wants to pursue a postgraduate course in the State, she/he need not do rural service. But the student has to do the rural service after the completion of PG course, he added.

The then government had in 2006 introduced a bond system wherein a student taking a medical seat under the government quota was made to give an undertaking saying that she/he will serve in rural area for one year or pay a penalty of Rs one lakh. The bond system was introduced under the Karnataka Selection of Candidates for Admission to Government Seats in Professional Educational Institutions Rules, 2006.

But a majority of the students chose to pay penalty instead of serving in rural areas. In 2012, the penalty amount was revised substantially but for no avail.

Hence, the then government decided to enact a separate legislation for making rural service mandatory. Unlike the bond system, compulsory rural service applies to all quotas of medical seats, including NRI and management quotas.

Dr Patil said the S K Saidapur Committee on fee monitoring and regulation has received 110 complaints. The government will announce the seat matrix for admission to medical courses in two or three days. The Medical Council of India (MCI) has increased the undergraduate medical seats in four government colleges in Ballari (from 150 to 200 seats), Hubballi (100 to 150), Mysuru (100 to 150) and Bengaluru (150 to 250 seats).

Besides, Dr Patil said the MCI has accorded recognition to the new medical colleges in Gadag, Koppal and Kalaburagi.

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HC refuses to quash probe against Mangaluru WhatsApp admin over offensive posts

News Network

February 1,2026

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash an investigation against a WhatsApp group administrator accused of allowing the circulation of obscene and offensive images depicting Hindutva politicians and idols in 2021.

Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that, prima facie, the ingredients of the offence under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code were made out. “The offence under Section 295A of the IPC is met to every word of its ingredient, albeit prima facie,” the judge said.

The petitioner, Sirajuddin, a resident of Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district, had challenged the FIR registered against him at the CEN (Cyber, Economics and Narcotics) police station, Mangaluru, for offences under Section 295A of the IPC and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act. Section 295A relates to punishment for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens.

According to the complaint filed by K Jayaraj Salian, also a resident of Belthangady taluk, he received a WhatsApp group link from an unknown source and was added to the group after accessing it. The group reportedly had six administrators and around 250 participants, where obscene and offensive images depicting Hindu deities and certain political figures were allegedly circulated repeatedly.

Sirajuddin was arrested in connection with the case and later released on bail on February 16, 2021. He argued before the court that he was being selectively targeted, while other administrators—including the creator of the group—were neither arrested nor investigated. He also contended that the Magistrate could not have taken cognisance of the offence under Section 295A without prior sanction under Section 196(1) of the CrPC.

Rejecting the argument, Justice Nagaprasanna held that prior sanction is required only at the stage of taking cognisance, and not at the stage of registration of the crime or during investigation.

The judge noted that the State had produced the entire investigation material before the court. “A perusal of the material reveals depictions of Hindu deities in an extraordinarily obscene, demeaning and profane manner. The content is such that its reproduction in a judicial order would itself be inappropriate,” the court said, adding that the material, on its face, had the tendency to outrage religious feelings and disturb communal harmony.

Observing that the case was still at the investigation stage, the court said it could not interdict the probe at this juncture. However, it expressed concern that the investigating officer appeared to have not proceeded uniformly against all administrators. The court clarified that if the investigation revealed the active involvement of any member in permitting the circulation of such content, they must also be proceeded against.

“At this investigative stage, any further observation by this Court would be unnecessary,” the order concluded.

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