Holding

Sub‑section (5) of section 17 of the Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act, 1961 is unconstitutional as it violates Article 14.

Summary

The appellant challenged the High Court's order that declared sub‑section (5) of section 17 of the Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act, 1961 unconstitutional. The provision allowed persons who were practising Ayurvedic or Unani medicine in the Bombay area on 4 November 1941, but not listed under the Bombay Medical Practitioners Act, to be entered in the register upon application. The respondent, an Ayurvedic practitioner from Uttar Pradesh who migrated to Bombay, was denied registration under this clause. The Supreme Court examined the earlier decision in Rukmani Hoondraj Hingorani, where a similar provision in section 18(2)(b)(ii) was struck down for violating Article 14. Relying on that precedent and noting the lack of rational nexus between the geographic restriction and the legislative purpose, the Court held that sub‑section (5) of section 17 is violative of Article 14. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed, leaving the High Court's judgment in force.

Issues considered

Whether sub‑section (5) of section 17 of the Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act, 1961 violates Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
Whether the provision is in pari materia with section 18(2)(b)(ii) and thus subject to the same constitutional scrutiny.

Legislation cited

Bombay General Clauses Acts. 3(6)
Bombay Medical Practitioners Act, 1938
Constitution of Indias. Article 14
Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act, 1961s. 17(5), s. 18(2)(b)(ii)

Subjects

Article 14Equality before lawMedical registrationAyurvedic medicineUnani medicineDiscriminatory provisionPari materiaJudicial review

Judgment

398

A A. T. ZAMBRE AND OTHERS
•
v.
KARTAR KRISHNA SHASHTRI
December 17, 1980
B [A. D. KosHAL AND BAHARUL ISLAM, JJ.]
Constitution of India 1950, Art. 14 & The Maharashtra Medical Practitioners
Act, 1961, S. 11(5)-Whether unconstitutional.

The Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act 1961, contains provisions for
1

registration and enlistment of medical practitioners. Clause (ii) of sub-section
c (S) of section 17 of the Act provides that any person not being a person
qualified for registration under sub-sections (3) or ( 4) who proves to the
satisfaction of the Committee appointed Under sub-section (6), "that he was •
on the 4th day of November 1941 regularly practising the Ayurvedic or the
Unani System of Medicine in the Bombay area of the State, but his name was
not entered in the register maintained under the Bombay Medical Practitioners
Act, 1938" shall be entitled to have his name entered in the register on making
D an application and on payment of the prescribed fee.

The respondent whose name was listed by the Board of, Indian Medicine,
Uttar Pradesh in the register of Vaids and Hakims practised as a Vaid and as
an Ayurvedic Doctor in Agra and Bhopal respectively. He migrated to Bombay
in 1962 where he started practice as an Ayurvedic Doctor. He applied for
registration as a medical practitioner to the Committee of the Medical Board
E of Unani system of Medicine under sub-section (5) of section 17 of the Act.
His application was rejected, and his appeal filed to the Board was also
dismissed.
The High Court, however, allowed the respondent's writ petition, relying
on its earlier decision in Rukmani Hoondraj Hingorani v. The Appellate
.4utl1ority under the lV!aliarashtra Medical Practitioner Act, 1961 (1969) 71
Bom. L. R. 71 (77), held section 17 ( 5) of the Act as unconstitutional and set
F aside the orders passed by the Board.
Dismissing the appeal to this Court,
HELD: 1. In Rukmani Hoondraj Hingorani v. The Appellate Authority
under the Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act, 1961 (1969) 71 Born. LR.
71(77) the validity of section 18(2)(b)(ii) fell for consideration and was
G
rightly held to be unconstitutional as it offends the provisions of Article 14. •
It was observed in that case that the provision, by restricting the right of en-
listment to those medical practitioners 'who have been regularly practising on
4th November, 1951 in the Bombay area of the State' had no rational nexus
with the object of the Legislature which was to allow medical practice by those '
less qualified persons who were too old to choose alternative means of liveli-
hood, and that while it was clearly open to the Legislature to provide that a
person must have been practising for a certain number of years, or from before
H
a particular date, in order that his name may be included in the list, no distinc-
tion on the basis of the area in which he had been practising could be made.
[40QC.HJ
A. T. ZAMBRE v. K. K. SHASTRI (Koshal, J.) 399
• A
2. The provisions of section 18(2)(b)(ii) being in pari materia with sub-
sedion (5) of section 17, the observations made in the above case apply als<>
to this sub-se.ction. This sub-section is, therefore, violative of Article 14 of
the Constitution. [401G]
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 1572 of 1970-
From the Judgment and Order dated 8-11-1968 of the Bombay B
High Court in S.C.A. No. 2087 /68.
M. C. Bhandare, C. K. Sucharita and M. N. Shroff for the
Appellant.
Nemo for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by c
KosHAL J., This is au appeal by special leave against the judgment
'
dated November 8, 1968 of a Division lknch of the High Court of
Bombay allowing a petition under articles 226 aud 227 of the Consti-
tution of fndia and declaring that sub-s. ( 5) of s. 17 of the Mahara-
shtra lvledical Practitioners Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the:
Act) is u/tr." vires of article 14 of the Constitution of India. D
The facts are not in dispute and may be shortly stated. The res-
pondel)t hails from Uttar Pradesh. In 1940 he obtained the degree
of "Ayurved Shastri" from the All Indm Adarsh Vidwat Parishad,
Kanpur. On Novemb;~r 12, 1940 his name was listed by the Board
of Indian Medicine, Uttar Pradesh, in the register of Vaids and E
Hakims. He practised as a Vaid in Agra thereafter upto 1955 when
he migrated to Bhopal where he was registered as an Ayurvedic Doctor
by the Medical Council of the Government of Bhopal under the
Bhopal Medical Practitioners Registration Act, 1935. He migrated
to Bombay in 1962 and started practising there as an Aynrvedic
Doctor. However, in the meantime, i.e., on November 23, 1961, the F
Act came into force, except for Chapter VI thereof which came ilJ.to
operation on November 1, 1966. The respondent's application for
registration as a medical practitioner made to the Committee of the
Medical Board of Unani Sy-stem of Medicine under sub-s. (5) of s.
17 of the Act (although none of the clauses of that sub-section had
anything to do with it) was rejected and his appeal filed to the Board G
was also dismissed on September 30, 1964.
• Clause (ii) of the said sub-s. ( 5) with which we are concerned
provides that any person not being a person qualified for registration
under sub-ss. (3) or (4) who.proves to the satisfaction of the Com-
mittee appointed under sub-s. (6) "that he was on the 4th day of
November 1941 regularly practising the Ayurvedic or the Unani H
System of Medicine in the Bombay area of the State, but his name was
not entered ill the register maintained under the Bombay Medical
'

r
400 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1981] 2 S.C.R.

.A Practioners Act, 1938" shall be entitled to have his name entered in
the register on making an application on the prescribed form, on pay-
ment of a fee of Rs. 10/- and production of such docnments as may
be prescribed by the rules. The expression "Bombay area of the State '
of Maharashtra" is defined i'.n sub-s. ( 6) of s. 3 of the Bombay
General Clauses Act to mean "the area of the State of Maharashtra
B excluding the Vidarbha region and the Hyderabad area of that State."

A contention was raised before the Higb Court on the strength of
Rukmani Hoondraj Hingorani v. The Appellate Authority under the
Malzarashtru Medical Practitioners Act, 1961 (1) that sub-s. (5) of s.
17 of the Act fell foul of article 14 of the Constitution, a'nd that con-
c tention wa~ accepted. We may usefully refer to the following observa-
tions made in the decision just above cited : •
"Confining our attention, however, to medical practi-
tioners practising in the Bombay area of the State, we fmd it
difficult to appreciate why the rigbt of enlistment should have
D bee'.n restricted to those who were regularly practising on 4th
November 1951, 'in the Bombay area of the State'. Since
the object 0f the Legislature was to allow medical practice
by those less qualified persons who were too old to choose
alternative mea:ns of livelihood, it was clearly open to the
Legislature to provide that a person must have been prac-
E tising for a certain number of years, or from before a parti-
cular date, in order that his name may be included in the
fat. It was thus open to the Legislature to provide that, out
of unregistered and unlisted medical practitioners who were
practising in the Bombay area of the State, only those would
be entitled to have their names included in the list
F
who were practising regularly from before the 4th of
November, 1951. It is, however, not possible to find any
rational basis for the provision that medical practitioners in
the Bombay area of the State, i'n order to be entitled to enlist-
ment, must not only have been practising regularly from 4th
G November, 1951, but must have been practising on that day
'in the Bombay area of the State'. The provision that medi-
cal practitioners must have b;ien practising on 4th November,
1951 in the Bombay area of the State has no rational nexus •
with the object of the Legislature which was to ensure that
medical practitioners, who were not fully qualified but who
H were too old to choose alternative means of livelihood, should
not be deprived of their practice.
1. (1969) 71 Bombay Law Reporter 71 (77).
A. T. ZAMBRE V. K. K. SHASTRI (Koshal, !.) 401

In order to illustrate the discriminatory nature of the A
'
provision contained in s. 18(2) (b)(ii), we shall take ima-
ginary instances of five persons who were all practising in
the Bombay area of the State at the time of their applications
under s. 18 (i.e., on or before 31st March, 1965) and who
were not already enlisted and were not entitled to registration
under the Act. Let us suppose that one of them, A, was B
practising continuously in Bombay City from 1950 to 1963,
when he applied under s. 18 of the Act. Since on 4th
November, 1951 he was practising regularly 'in the Bombay
area of the State', he is clearly entitled to have his name in-
cluded in the list. Let us take another person B who practis-
ed in Poona from 1950 to 1954 and in Bombay City from c
1954 to 1963 when he applied under s. 18. He is also
entitled to enlistment because Poona falls in the Bombay
area of the State. We may then take the instance of C who
practised in Nagpur from 1950 to 1954 and in Bombay City
from 1954 to 1963. He would not be entitled to have his
D
name included in the list, because on 4th November, 1951
he was regnlarly practising in Nagpur which, though sitrn1tcd
in Maharashtra, is not included in the Bombay area of the
State. We will next take the instance of D who practised
i'.n Baroda, then a part of the Bombay State, from 1950 to
1954 and tkreafter in Bombay City from 1954 to 1963.
E
He is also not entitled to enlistment, since Baroda in out-
side the State of Maharashtra. Similar would be the pos;tion
of another person E who practised in Bhopal from 1950 to
1954 and then in Bombay City from 1954 to 1963. No
rational explanation can be given of why A and B should
rereive the said concession from the Legislature and should F
·" be able to continue their practice and why C, D and E
should not receive the concession and should be deprived
• of their practice."
We find ourselves in complete agreement with these observations
which were made i'n relation to sub-clause (ii) of clause (b) of sub-s.
(2) of s. 18 of the Act. The provisions of that sub-clause bemg G
in pari materia with sub-s. (5) of s. 17 of the Act, they apply fully
to that sub-;;ection which must therefore be held to be violative of
article 14 of the Constitution. Accordingly we have no hesitation in
• upholding the impugned judgment and dismiss this appeal, but with
no order as to costs as the respondent has not appeared before us to
contest it. H
• N.V.K. Appeal dismissed.