Overview

• The Supreme Court on June 10 stayed the Delhi High Court’s order that had quashed Dr. Deopujari’s appointment as NCISM chairperson for lacking a postgraduate degree.
• The Delhi HC held that Deopujari’s PhD from Pune University did not equate to the MD-level master’s degree required under Section 4(2) of the NCISM Act, 2020.
• A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan has issued notices to petitioners Ved Prakash Tyagi and Dr. Raghunandan Sharma and to the NCISM to address the degree equivalence question.
• The NCISM Act mandates that its chairperson possess a recognized postgraduate degree in the Indian System of Medicine and at least 20 years of professional experience, including 10 years in leadership roles.
• Following the high court’s June 6 ruling, the NCISM had begun a fresh chairperson selection process before the Supreme Court imposed its interim stay.