The Delhi High Court agreed with the petitioners and said that Deopujari was not qualified for the position.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Delhi High Court’s decision that had cancelled the appointment of Vaidya Jayant Yeshwant Deopujari as the Chairperson of the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM). The top court also agreed to hear his appeal challenging the High Court’s verdict.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Manmohan issued notices to the NCISM and other concerned parties on the matter.
Deopujari had approached the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court, on June 6, allowed two petitions that had objected to his appointment. The petitions were filed by Ved Prakash Tyagi, former president of the now-defunct Central Council for Indian Medicine, and Dr Raghunandan Sharma.
According to the petitioners, Deopujari was not eligible for the position under the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act, 2020 (NCISM Act) because he did not hold the necessary educational qualification—a postgraduate degree like MD.
They argued that although he had a PhD from Pune University, he had not completed a Master’s degree (such as MD in Ayurveda), which is what the law requires.
The Delhi High Court agreed with the petitioners and said that Deopujari was not qualified for the position.
It ruled:
“We have no hesitation to hold that the expression ‘Post-Graduate Degree’ occurring in Section 4(2) of the NCISM Act, 2020 in the context it has been used would mean a Master’s Degree (MD) in any discipline of Indian System of Medicine which the respondent does not possess and, therefore, he lacks the requisite qualification for being appointed to the office in question.”
The court further observed that Deopujari had directly enrolled for a PhD after completing his Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) without first completing a Master’s program.
“The PhD degree which was awarded to him by Pune University did not presuppose acquisition of lower qualification (Master’s Degree in Ayurveda),” the High Court noted.
The court clarified that not all degrees earned after graduation can be considered a postgraduate qualification, especially in the context of Indian higher education.
“Every degree awarded by an university after graduation couldn’t be termed as ‘post-graduation qualification’ for the reason that in the domain of higher education in our country ‘post graduate degree’ acquired a special meaning and significance and post-graduate degree means a master’s degree like MA, MSc, MD, LLM or MEd.”
The High Court had also said that the NCISM Act focuses on maintaining high standards in education for Indian traditional medicine systems. So, top officials of the Commission must meet these high educational and professional standards.
“The NCISM Act emphasised on the functions of the commission to maintain high quality and high standards of education in the Indian System of Medicine and, as a result, phrases such as ‘head of a department’ and ‘head of an organisation’ were to be understood and construed in the context in which Parliament passed the Act.”
Following the ruling, the counsel representing NCISM informed the High Court that a new selection process for appointing the Chairperson had already begun. The High Court then directed that the selection be completed quickly and that its observations should be taken into consideration.
“The process of selection and appointment of the chairperson had commenced,” the counsel had told the High Court.
The court, in turn, said:
“It directed the expeditious completion of the process.”
It also instructed that:
“The High Court also asked for its observations to be taken into account during the selection process.”
CASE DETAILS:
VAIDYA JAYANT YASHWANT DEOPUJARI vs VED PRAKASH TYAGI
DIARY NO. – 32061/2025
and
NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR INDIAN SYSTEM OF MEDICINE vs VED PRAKASH TYAGI
DIARY NO. – 32087/2025
