No Application From Medical Colleges For Grant Of LOP For 2017-18 Shall Be Entertained: SC To Centre [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the government that no petition shall be entertained from any medical institution/ college/ society/ trust or any party for grant of Letter Of Permission (LOP) for the academic session 2017-2018.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Amitava Roy and Justice AM Khanwilkar held:“We direct that the order passed in the present writ petition shall be applicable hereafter for the academic session 2017-2018 since the cut-off date for admissions to MBBS course for academic session 2017-2018 is over and the academic session has commenced. No petition shall be entertained from any institution/ college/ society/ trust or any party for grant of LOP for 2017-2018. We say so as the controversy for grant of LOP for the academic year 2017-2018 should  come to an end and cannot become an event that defeats time. The students who are continuing their studies on the basis of LOP granted for the academic year 2016-2017 should be allowed to continue their studies in the college and they shall be permitted to continue till completion of the course.”

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Royal Medical Trust, which runs Kerala Medical College in Palakkad, for issuing of a writ of certiorari for quashing the order dated May 31, 2017, passed by the government whereunder the petitioners have been debarred from admitting 150 students in the MBBS course in the academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19, and further to restrain the Medical Council of India (MCI), to encash the bank guarantee of Rs. 2 crore furnished by the petitioner-institution.

Dismissing the petition, the bench held as follows:

(a) The petitioners are not entitled to Letter Of Permission (LOP) for the academic session 2017-2018. We direct that the order passed in the present writ petition shall be applicable hereafter for the academic session 2017-2018 since the cut-off date for admissions to MBBS course for academic session 2017-2018 is over and the academic session has commenced. No petition shall be entertained from any institution/college/society/trust or any party for grant of LOP for 2017-2018. We say so as the controversy for grant of LOP for the academic year 2017-2018 should come to an end and cannot become an event that defeats time. The students who are continuing their studies on the basis of LOP granted for the academic year 2016-2017 should be allowed to continue their studies in the college and they shall be permitted to continue till completion of the course.

(b) The applications submitted for 2017-2018 shall be treated as applications for 2018-2019 and the petitioners shall keep the bank guarantee deposited with the Medical Council of India alive and the MCI shall not encash the same.

(c) The Medical Council of India shall conduct a fresh inspection as per the Regulations within a period of two months. It shall apprise the petitioner-institution with regard to the deficiencies and afford an opportunity to comply with the same and, thereafter, proceed to act as contemplated under the Act.

(d) The inspection shall be carried out for the purpose of grant of LOP for the academic session 2018-19.

(e) After the Medical Council of India sends its recommendation to the Central Government, it shall take the final decision as per law after affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioners. Needless to say, it shall take the assistance of the Hearing Committee as constituted by the Constitution Bench decision in Amma Chandravati Educational and Charitable Trust case or other directions given in the said decision.