The National Medical Commission (NMC) is currently developing new guidelines that will be used to determine whether candidates with disabilities can enroll in medical programs and if they can avail benefit of quotas. A 16-member expert panel was set up after the Delhi High Court directed the NMC to explore the possibility of candidates with disability pursuing some disciplines (if not all) of medical education.

About the National Medical Commission (NMC) -

Ø  The NMC is a statutory body constituted (in 2020) by an act of Parliament known as the National Medical Commission Act, 2019.

Ø  It regulates medical education and medical professionals in India and has replaced the Medical Council of India (MCI, constituted under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956).

Organisational structure of NMC —

Ø  Medical Advisory Council — It provides the platform through which the states or UTs can put forth their views and concerns before the NMC and advises the NMC on measures to determine and maintain minimum standards of medical education.

Four autonomous boards —

Ø  Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (sets norms for undergraduate (UG) courses),

Ø  Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (sets norms for post-graduate courses),

Ø  Medical Assessment and Rating Board (inspects and rates the medical education institutes), and

Ø  Ethics and Medical Registration Board (regulates professional conduct of the doctors and registers them).

Existing guidelines of NMC -

Ø  It says that anyone with more than 40% disability will be eligible for medical course and quota if their disability can be brought below the 40% mark with aids.

Recommendations of the Panel -

Ø  It ranges from a —

Ø  “Progressive outlook” for those with mental illness - suggesting that anyone who can complete all course requirements be allowed to study medicine.

Ø  To “extremely restrictive” requirements for locomotor disabilities, suggesting wheelchairbound people or those using two crutches be disqualified.

Inclusive recommendations -

Ø  The panel recommended that everyone should be allowed to pursue a medical course, and those with a disability of more than 40% be allowed to compete for the 5% seats under the quota for persons with disabilities.

Ø  When it comes to locomotor disabilities - disability of bones, joints or muscles that restrict the movement of limbs - the committee suggested that students will be allowed if they are able to perform activities.

Ø  These recommendations are in line with disability guidelines that are followed in countries such as the UK.

What are the concerns?

Despite the mandate, much of the recommendations do not talk of advancements in assistive devices or treatments. Lack of objective method to establish that disability is equal to or more than 40%

Recently, to a litigant appearing before him, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said that he will not permit forum shopping.

What is ‘Forum Shopping’?

When litigants or lawyers attempt to deliberately move their case to a particular judge or Court where they think the judgment could be more favourable, they are said to be “forum shopping.”

Websters’s dictionary defines forum shopping as –

Ø  “practice of choosing the court in which to bring an action from among those courts that could  properly exercise jurisdiction based on a determination of which court is likely to provide the most favourable outcome.”

Ø  Lawyers think about which is the right forum to approach as part of their litigation strategy.

Ø  For example, one could directly approach the Supreme Court via a public interest litigation case instead of the concerned High Court because the issue could get more eyeballs.

Criticism of this practice -

Ø  Forum shopping is an obvious attempt to circumvent the process or avoid a particular judge and that is why it is frowned upon by the judges.

Ø  Judges have cited the injustice caused to the other party in the case and overburdening some courts over others and interfering with judicial process.

Ø  Even the US and UK courts have criticised the practice of forum shopping as something to be avoided or prohibited. For instance, in the US, it has been reported that more than 40% of the patent suits are filed in a Federal Court in East Texas.

Supreme Court’s view on this practice -

Ø  The concept of forum shopping as not been rendered an exclusive definition in any Indian statute.

Ø  The Supreme Court in its 1988 ruling in ‘Chetak Construction Ltd. vs. Om Prakash’ said – “A litigant cannot be permitted choice of the forum,” and that every attempt at forum shopping “must be crushed with a heavy hand.”

Ø  In March 2022, in the case of ‘Vijay Kumar Ghai vs. State of W.B.’, Supreme Court termed forum shopping as a “disreputable practise by the courts” that “has no sanction and paramountcy in law”.

Ø  The court observed that despite condemning the practice, one of the respondents had filed three complaints, two in Delhi and one in Calcutta.

Ø  The court said that it indicated “the malafide intention” of the respondent, which was to harass the petitioners and “pressurise them into shelling out the investment.”

Ø  In its 2017 ruling in ‘Union of India & Ors. vs. Cipla Ltd.’, the Supreme Court laid down a “functional test” to be adopted for forum shopping.

Ø  To determine whether a litigant is indulging in forum shopping or not, the court will check whether there is any functional similarity in the proceedings between one court and another or whether there is some sort of subterfuge on the part of a litigant.

Recently, Supreme Court Justice MR Shah refused to recuse from hearing a plea by former Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt. Earlier, Justice CT Ravikumar, had recused himself from hearing a batch of appeals against the discharge of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC-Lavalin corruption case.

Ø  The reason for his recusal was that he had been involved in a related matter as a judge in the Kerala High Court. These incidents have brought back the focus on the issue of recusal of judges.

Why does a judge recuse?

Ø  When there is a conflict of interest, a judge can withdraw from hearing a case to prevent creating a perception that she carried a bias while deciding the case. The conflict of interest can be in many ways — from holding shares in a company that is a litigant to having a prior or personal association with a party involved in the case.

Ø  The practice stems from the cardinal principle of due process of law that nobody can be a judge in her own case.

Ø  Another instance for recusal is when an appeal is filed in the Supreme Court against a judgement of a High Court that may have been delivered by the SC judge when she was in the HC.

What is the process for recusal?

Ø  The decision to recuse generally comes from the judge herself as it rests on the conscience and discretion of the judge to disclose any potential conflict of interest. In some circumstances, lawyers or parties in the case bring it up before the judge. If a judge recuses, the case is listed before the Chief Justice for allotment to a fresh Bench.

Ø  There are no formal rules governing recusals, although several Supreme Court judgments have dealt with the issue.

Ø  In Ranjit Thakur v Union of India (1987), the Supreme Court held that the tests of the likelihood of bias is the reasonableness of the apprehension in the mind of the party. The proper approach for the Judge is not to look at his own mind and ask himself, however honestly, Am I biased?” but to look at the mind of the party before him,” the court had held. A Judge shall not hear and decide a matter in a company in which he holds shares… unless he has disclosed his interest and no objection to his hearing and deciding the matter is raised,” states the 1999 charter "Restatement of Values in Judicial Life#, a code of ethics adopted by the Supreme Court.

Can a judge refuse to recuse?

Ø  Once a request is made for recusal, the decision to recuse or not rests with the judge. While there are some instances where judges have recused even if they do not see a conflict but only because such an apprehension was cast, there have also been several cases where judges have refused to withdraw from a case.

Do judges record reasons for recusal?

Ø  Since there are no formal rules governing the process, it is often left to individual judges to record reasons for recusal. Some judges disclose the reasons in open court; in some cases, the reasons are apparent.

Ø  In a landmark verdict in 2015 holding that the National Judicial Appointments Commission as unconstitutional, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Madan Lokur had referred to the need for judges to give reasons for recusal to build transparency and help frame rules to govern the process.

A new set of rules has been issued for the Special Protection Group (SPG) by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Special Protection Group Act, 1988.

New rules for the SPG –

Ø  The officers of All India Services will be appointed to the SPG on deputation by the central government on the same terms and conditions as applicable to the officers of the corresponding ranks in the central government.

Ø  Other members of the SPG (except All India Services) will be appointed on deputation for an initial period of 6 years. The appointment for the 2nd tenure may be done with the prior approval of the central government for reasons to be recorded.

Ø  The SPG, will have its headquarters in New Delhi and now be handled by an officer not less than the rank of an Additional Director-General belonging to the Indian Police Service.

Ø  The general superintendence, direction, command and control, supervision, training, discipline, and administration of the SPG will be vested in the director.

Ø  The director of the SPG shall be the functional head and responsible for the implementation of the duties assigned in the Act.

About the Special Protection Group (SPG) -

Ø  It is an elite force, specifically raised for the protection of the country’s Prime Minister, former PMs and their immediate family.

Ø  The force is currently 3,000 strong (from CRPF, BSF and other Central and State forces) and it was started in 1985 in the wake of the killing of PM Indira Gandhi in 1984.

What is unique about the SPG?

Ø  The SPG is highly trained in physical efficiency, marksmanship, combat and proximate protection tactics and is assisted by all central and state agencies to ensure fool proof security.

Ø  SPG Special Agents assigned to the PM security wear black, Western-style formal business suits (safari suits on occasions), with sunglasses, and carry a two-way encrypted communication earpiece, and concealed handguns.

Ø  The SPG also has special operations commandos who carry ultra-modern assault rifles and wear dark-visor sunglasses with inbuilt communication earpieces, bulletproof vests, gloves and elbow/knee pads.

About the SPG Act 1988 -

Ø  The Act provides for the constitution and regulation of the SPG to provide security to —

Ø  The PM (both in India and abroad), as well as the PM's immediate family members.

Ø  Former PMs, and their immediate family members residing with them at their official residence.

Ø  It provides security to former PMs and their immediate family members for a period of 1 year from the date on which they cease to hold the office.

Ø  Beyond this period, the SPG security is provided based on the level of threat (must emanate from a military or terrorist organisation and be of a grave and continuing nature) as decided by the central government.

About the SPG (Amendment) Act 2019 -

The protection will be offered only to the PM, former PMs and their immediate family members residing with them at their official residence.

The security to former PMs, and their immediate family members residing with them at their official residence will be provided for a period of 5 years.

When the security is withdrawn from a former PM such security will also stand withdrawn from members of his immediate family.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has come out with guidelines for Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for online gaming platforms.

Online gaming market in India -

Types of online gaming —

e-Sports — These are played online in a structured manner between professional players, either individually or in teams.

Fantasy sports — These are games in which the player selects a team of real sports players from several teams and earns points based on how well the players perform in real life. For example,

Online casual games — These could be skill-based, where the outcome is heavily impacted by mental or physical skill or chance-based, where the outcome is heavily influenced by some randomised activity, such as rolling a die.

A game of chance may be considered as gambling if players bet money or anything of monetary value.

How big is the online gaming market in India?

Ø  Between 2017 and 2020, the industry in India increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38%, compared to 8% in China and 10% in the US.

Ø  The Indian mobile gaming industry's revenue is predicted to exceed $1.5 billion in 2022 and reach $5 billion by 2025.

Ø  According to a FICCI report, transaction-based games revenue increased by 26% in India, while the number of paying players increased from 80 million in 2020 to 95 million in 2021 (by 17%).

Ø  Issues — Lack of regulatory oversight, Online gaming - a state subject - resulting in inconsistencies in regulation, Societal concerns - suicides among persons losing big amount of money.

What is the TDS Provision for Online Gaming?

Ø  With an aim to track the online gaming industry, the government inserted a new section (194BA) in the Income-tax Act, 1961 through Finance Act 2023.

Ø  It mandates online gaming platforms to deduct income-tax on the net winnings in the person’s user account.

Ø  TDS will be applicable at the rate of 30% on the net winnings from any online gaming.

Ø  Tax is required to be deducted at the time of withdrawal as well as at the end of the financial year.

Example of online gaming tax -

Ø  Suppose a user has paid Rs.1,000 as an entry fee to enter an online game and won Rs.40,000 from that.

Ø  In such a case, the gaming firm will deduct the user’s TDS on Rs. 39,000 (Rs. 40,000 - Rs. 1,000) at 30%.

Ø  Therefore, the user will have to pay a tax of Rs. 11,700, which will get deposited to the government and the remaining balance of Rs. 27,300 will be credited into your account as your income from the win.

How will net winnings get calculated if a user has multiple wallets?

Ø  When there are multiple accounts of a user, each user account shall be considered for the purposes of calculating net winnings.

Ø  The deposit, withdrawal or balance in the user account shall mean aggregate of deposits, withdrawals or balances in all user accounts.

Ø  Transfer from one user account to another account, maintained with the same online intermediary, of the same user shall not be considered as withdrawal or deposit.

What are the guidelines for TDS for online gaming?

Ø  Online gaming platforms will not be required to deduct tax at the source for a player if the net winning does not exceed Rs 100.

Ø  The bonus, referral bonus, and incentives given by the online gaming company to the intermediate user will be considered as taxable deposit under the Income-tax Act.