MBBS : Supreme Court Imposes Rs 2.5 Crores Penalty On Medical College For Illegal Admissions; Protects Students

Even though the Supreme Court had passed a stay order, preventing the medical college from admitting students to its MBBS course, it proceeded to do so. A Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices P Narasimha and JB Pardiwala expressed that it did not want to touch upon the admissions of students but asked the medical college to pay up.

“We are, therefore, of the considered view in the exercise of the jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution that the admissions which were granted to 100 students for 2021- 22 should not be disturbed conditional on the Medical College depositing an amount of Rs 2.5 crores within a period of four weeks. The amount shall be deposited with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and a proof of receipt shall be furnished both to the appellants and to the Registry of this Court. The amount, upon deposit, shall be utilized at the discretion of the Director, AIIMS for meeting the requirements of poor and needy patients”.

The medical college had an annual intake capacity of 100 seats for the MBBS degree course. For the academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19, the Medical College was not granted permission to admit students. In 2020, the Medical College submitted an application to increase its intake capacity from 100 to 150 for the academic year 2021-22. At the same time, its renewal of recognition had become due in 2021.

After the medical college furnished an affidavit stating that there were no deficiencies, the Undergraduate Medical Education Board of the National Medical Commission granted renewal of recognition in 2021 for the batch of students admitted for the academic session 2016-17.

Regarding the increase in intake of students, the medical college submitted an application and a physical inspection was carried out. In 2021, a letter of permission was issued subject to the specific condition that if the medical college was found not maintaining minimum standards, the letter of permission would be withdrawn.

After the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare received complaints alleging irregularities and deficiencies in the infrastructure of the Medical College, a team of inspectors conducted a surprise physical inspection. The assessors found gross deficiency of faculty, residents and clinical material, among other aspects. Consequently, the letter of permission was withdrawn.

The medical college moved the Bombay High Court. The petition was disposed of while directing the NMC to conduct an inspection of the Medical College by 30 January 2022 and a final decision was directed to be taken by 3 February 2022. The petition was disposed of, on 25 January 2022, on the first date of hearing, without the NMC even filing a counter affidavit. Aggrieved, the latter moved the Supreme Court. An application for modifying the High Court order was then filed by the Medical College.

On14 February 2022, the Top Court set aside the judgments dated 25 January 2022 and 2 February 2022 and restored the writ petition to the file of the High Court. NMC then filed a counter before the High Court.

The High Court, while upholding the withdrawal of the permission to admit 50 students, permitted the Medical College to continue with the admission of 100 students. The Supreme Court stayed this order on April 8, 2022.

The NMC, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board were asked to carry out a fresh inspection within two months to determine whether there were any deficiencies or not.

The inspections revealed that the medical college proceeded to admit 100 students even though no application was moved before the Supreme Court for variation of its stay order. The Court took note of this and came down heavily on the medical college. It made an attempt to overreach the process of the Court, the Court observed.

“Once the order of the High Court permitting the Medical College to admit 100 students for 2021-22 was stayed, the Medical College could not have unilaterally chosen to proceed with the admission process. This is plainly in breach of the directions of this Court. The Medical College has made an attempt to overreach the process of the Court. The subsequent inspection conducted in pursuance of the interim order of this Court did not entitle the Medical College to take the law for granted. It plainly acted in defiance of the order of this Court”.

The important question the Court next considered was regarding the admission which was granted to 100 students for 2021-22 in breach of the stay order.

“On one hand, the Court has due regard to the consequences which will be faced by the students if their admissions are disturbed, at this stage. Equally, the sanctity of the judicial process has to be observed”.

The Court then said that it did not want to interfere with the admissions already granted as the students were admitted through central counselling in the State of Maharashtra and asked the medical college to pay the amount. This amount can’t be recovered from the students in any manner, the Court added while disposing of the plea.

Case Title: NMC vs Annasaheb Chudaman Patil Memorial Medical College & Ors | Civil Appeal No 966 of 2023

Citation : 2023 LivLaw (SC) 113

For Petitioner(s) Mr. Gaurav Sharma, AOR Mr. Dhawal Mohan, Adv. Mr. Prateek Bhatia, Adv. Mr. Nidhesh Gupta, Sr. Adv. Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mrs. Preeti Sehrawat, Adv.

For Respondent(s) Mr. Nidhesh Gupta, Sr. Adv. Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mrs. Preeti Sehrawat, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv. Ms. Kirti Dadheech, Adv

Education - Medical Admissions- Supreme Court asks medical college to deposit Rs 2.5 Crores with AIIMS as penalty for admitting students violating court orders - Money deposited to be used for poor patients