A bench of the Supreme Court of India, comprising Hon’ble Mr Justice Aravind Kumar and Hon’ble Mr Justice NV Anjaria, today, Tuesday, October 28, sharply criticised the National Medical Commission (NMC) for failing to disburse stipends to medical interns.

The court remarked that doctors are toiling for over 18 hours a day and that a stipend is a fundamental entitlement they rightfully deserve.

The hearing addressed a series of petitions highlighting the non-payment of stipends to both Indian Medical Graduates (IMGs) and Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs), underscoring ongoing inequities in intern compensation.

The petitioner doctors were represented by Advocate Tanvi Dubey. She argued that the doctors have been unfairly deprived of their stipends amid significant delays.

She pointed out that the batch of graduates who originally filed the writ petitions have already completed their degrees, yet no remedial actions have been initiated by the authorities, and urged the court for a swift resolution of the matter.

NMC's response

In response to a pointed query from the bench to the NMC counsel on whether a compliance report had been submitted, the NMC presented a notice dated 11.07.2025.

However, the Supreme Court observed that even this notice's directives remain unimplemented.

The bench directed the NMC to submit a detailed affidavit demonstrating full compliance with its own notice dated 11.07.2025 within a strict two-week timeframe.

NMC unable to provide details on stipend disbursement

This order builds on the Supreme Court's earlier directive dated 15.09.2023, which required the NMC to file a compliance affidavit detailing the number of colleges disbursing stipends, and outlining measures to enforce payments across institutions.

In response, the NMC issued a circular on 11.07.2025 to medical colleges. Yet, when pressed for specifics on the status, the NMC counsel was unable to provide concrete details about stipend payments in various colleges.

At this point, the court issued its mandate for the affidavit and expressed profound disapproval of the NMC's handling of the issue.

This case marks nearly a total of nine listings handled by Advocate Tanvi Dubey in a day for the petitioners, directing to a collective grievance of these doctors who have been denied payment rightfully theirs.