The aspirants of the Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB) exam in Tamil Nadu will be moving Madras High Court against the Health Department demanding that it fills the 1,251 vacant posts with candidates who had cleared the MRB exam held in April 2023 instead of issuing a fresh notification.
The last MRB exam was held in 2023 after five years for 1,021 assistant surgeon posts and as a result, a large number of candidates appeared, aspirants informed. The department called nearly 1,600 candidates for the 1,021 posts, of which, 777 were posted.
A new notification was released by the board for 2,553 assistant surgeon posts on Friday, March 15.
Speaking to EdexLive, Dr Parthiban Shivan, an MRB aspirant said, “As per the rules, they cannot issue new notifications until all the previously notified posts have been filled. I will move the court against the new notification.”
It is important to note that the doctors had earlier moved Madras High Court urging that the number of vacancies notified for the April 2023 exam be increased. The aspirants asked this because five merit marks were given to doctors who worked during COVID-19 in the MRB 2023 exams.
“These five grace marks had a huge impact on the merit list. A majority of the candidates who appeared for the exam were given these marks and due to this, doctors who had scored on pure merit faced a disadvantage,” said Dr Parthiban Shivan, who filed a writ petition in Madras High Court in February 2024.
Following this, the high court passed a judgement on February 14, 2024, directing the Health Department to consider the petitioner’s representation and pass appropriate orders within four weeks.
However, no action has yet been taken on these grounds, said the aspirants.
