Supreme Court: The 3-Judge Bench comprising of L. Nageswara Rao*, S. Abdul Nazeer and Indu Malhotra, JJ., dismissed the appeal filed by Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital for seeking permission for admitting students for the academic year 2021-2022. The Bench stated,
“There is no merit in the contention of the Appellants that admissions for the academic year 2019-2020 should be considered without any further inspection as the debarment by the notification dated 26-09-2016 was only for a period of two years.”
Background
Government of India granted letter of permission to the Appellant-College on 30-06-2011 for intake of 150 students in MBBS course for the academic year 2011-2012. As the inspections carried out by the Medical Council of India revealed gross deficiencies of the teaching faculty, clinical material and the other physical facilities in the medical college, it recommended that renewal of permission should not be granted to the Appellant-College for the academic years 2012-2013 to 2014-2015 which was accepted by the government.
Meanwhile, on 18-09-2014 in the case of Hind Charitable Trust Shekhar Hospital Private Ltd. v. Union of India, (2015) 2 SCC 336, this Court permitted private medical colleges whose application for renewal of permission was disapproved to make admissions, subject to the undertaking by the President/Chairman and Secretary of the Medical College that there was no deficiency existing in the medical college. Pursuant to which the Appellant-College submitted an undertaking that there was no deficiency existing in the facilities and that in the event of any deficiency being found in the inspection, the bank guarantee of Rs.9.5 Crores should be forfeited. Consequently, the Appellant-College was permitted to admit students for the academic year 2014-2015.
After noticing gross deficiencies, government debarred the Appellant-College for two years i.e. 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 from admitting students and allowed Medical Council of India to forfeit the bank guarantee. Students who were admitted in the first Appellant-College during the years 2011-2012, 2014-2015 and 2016-2017 were shifted to other colleges.
Thereafter, the appellant requested Medical Council of India to permit admission of 150 students in MBBS course for the academic year 2019-2020 which was rejected by the Council. Aggrieved by the same, the Appellant filed a petition in the High Court of Delhi which was dismissed.
Observation and Decision
The Bench observed the findings of High Court that there was no merit in the contention of the Appellants that admissions for the academic year 2019-2020 should be considered without any further inspection as the debarment by the notification dated 26-09-2016 was only for a period of two years. The Bench clarified the order of High Court stating that the Court had merely allowed the appellants to pursue their request for permission for the academic years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. It did not mean that the appellants were entitled to admit students for the academic year 2019-2020 without an inspection. The Bench stated,
A bare look of inspections conducted from the years 2011-2012 had made it clear that the Appellants had not utilized the opportunities given to them to rectify the deficiencies in the past.
In the view of above, the instant appeal was dismissed and findings of the High Court were upheld. The Bench further clarified that the appellant-College should be entitled for admissions for the academic year 2021-2022 only if renewal of the recognition is granted to the appellant-College and it is found that there are no deficiencies like infrastructure, clinical, teaching faculty and other facilities. [Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital v. Union of India, 2021 SCC OnLine SC 45, decided on 28-01-2021]
Kamini Sharma, Editorial Assistant has put this story together.
*Justice L. Nageswara Rao has penned this judgment
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