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Kerala Ayurveda Paramparya Vaidya Forum v. State of Kerala and Others

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 336Decided 13 Apr 2018
Civil Appeal No. 897 of 2009
Justice R.K. Agrawal · Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar

Background

The appellant forum represented traditional hereditary practitioners of Ayurveda/Siddha/Unani medicine in Kerala ("Paramparya Vaidyas") who passed down medical knowledge within families without formal institutional qualification. After laws like the Travancore-Cochin Medical Practitioners Act, 1953 and the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970 required registration to practice these systems of medicine, the traditional practitioners who lacked recognized qualifications or registration challenged their exclusion before the Kerala High Court, which dismissed their petitions. They then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the right to practice any profession under the Constitution is subject to reasonable regulation through professional qualification requirements, and that both the state and central legislation validly required registration based on recognized qualifications for anyone practicing Indian systems of medicine. Relying on prior precedents (including Dr. Mukhtiar Chand v. State of Punjab and Dr. A.K. Sabhapathy v. State of Kerala), the Court found that the appellants had failed to show they possessed any recognized qualification or had been validly registered, and that the limited statutory exemptions (such as for those practicing for five years before the relevant Act, or in areas with no State Register) did not apply to them. It held that unregulated "quack" practice poses a genuine risk to public health and upheld the High Court's dismissal of the petitions, finally disposing of all the connected appeals.

Lesson Learnt

Hereditary or traditional medical knowledge passed down informally within families does not by itself entitle a person to practice medicine: the right to practice any system of medicine in India is conditioned on meeting the qualification and registration requirements fixed by statute, which exist to protect patients from unqualified practitioners.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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