In a major ruling, the Bombay High Court has held that a postgraduate diploma awarded by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS), Mumbai, cannot by itself be treated as a disqualification for promotion to the post of Deputy Medical Officer of Health (Dy MOH).
In an order dated July 13, a division bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe directed the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to convene a departmental promotion committee (DPC) within two weeks to consider the case of petitioner Dr Manisha Vinod Naik, 56, an assistant medical officer of health, PMC, along with other eligible candidates for promotion.
The court passed the order while allowing a writ petition filed by Dr Naik, who challenged the civic body’s failure to convene the DPC despite vacancies in the post of deputy medical officer of health.
Dr Naik holds an MBBS degree and a postgraduate diploma in public health awarded by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS), Mumbai. She contended that she met the eligibility criteria prescribed under the recruitment rules but was being denied consideration because the corporation had questioned the validity of her CPS qualification.
The PMC defended its stand by citing a public notice issued by the National Medical Commission’s Post Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) in July 2024, which discontinued courses run under the CPS, Mumbai umbrella. The civic body said it had sought clarification from the state government on whether the qualification could be recognised for promotions.
However, the high court found that the corporation’s reliance on the NMC notice was misplaced. The bench observed that the July 26, 2024, public notice merely discontinued CPS courses prospectively and did not invalidate diplomas already awarded.
The judges noted, “The said public notice does not expressly provide that the diplomas or certificates awarded to candidates prior to the said date stand invalidated or derecognised.”
The court further relied on a March 24, 2026 communication issued by the Directorate of Medical Education, Research and Ayush, Maharashtra, which clarified that candidates admitted to the CPS DPH course before July 14, 2023 continue to remain eligible for promotion.
The bench also referred to the Maharashtra government’s January 30, 2025, government resolution amending recruitment rules for senior health posts in the PMC. The revised rules recognise an MBBS degree along with a postgraduate degree in preventive and social medicine or a postgraduate diploma in public health from a recognised university as the prescribed qualification for appointment to deputy health officer and related posts.
After examining the recruitment rules and the government’s clarification, the court concluded that Dr Naik fulfilled the prescribed eligibility criteria.
PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram could not be reached for comments.
