Establishment of medical colleges: MCI and Central Government must show due diligence right from the day when the applications are received: SC

Considering a batch of petitions arising out of communications issued by the Central Government recommending disapproval of applications preferred in respect of Medical Colleges for the academic year 2014-2015 for the reason that the Medical Council of India (MCI for short), after inspection, had found infirmities or inadequacies in the infrastructure, facilities and faculty in the said colleges, though the respective applicants claimed to have rectified the shortcomings and asked for compliance verification which was refused by the Central Government and/or the MCI refused for want of adequate time, the Apex Court has held that the MCI and the Central Government must show due diligence right from the day when the applications are received.Writing the judgment [Royal Medical Trust (Regd) and Another vs Union of India and Another] for a bench of 3 judges, Justice U.U. Lalit observed that inaction on the part or non-observance of the time Schedule by the MCI and the Central Government is bound to have an adverse effect on all concerned. “The MCI and the Central Government have been vested with monitoring powers under Section 10A and the Regulations. It is expected of these authorities to discharge their functions well within the statutory confines as well as in conformity with the Schedule to the Regulations. If there is inaction on their part or non-observance of the time Schedule, it is bound to have adverse effect on all concerned,” the Court said.The Court also reminded the MCI and the Central Government that the Schedule giving various stages and time limits must accommodate every possible eventuality and at the same time must comply with the requirements of observance of natural justice at various levels.The Court was considering broadly the following categories of cases:(I) Cases where new Medical Colleges were sought to be established for the first time and where such colleges were seeking appropriate permission to admit students to the first year of MBBS course(II) Cases where the existing approved Medical Colleges were seeking increase in intake of seats for admissions of students to the first year of MBBS Course(IV) Medical Colleges seeking renewal of permission, who had already received permission in the previous year(s) either for establishing new Medical College or for increasing intake capacity of the existing Medical College. In this category of cases, the renewal for subsequent batches and for permission to admit students to the first year course was sought.In these cases, during inspections conducted by the MCI in respect of Medical Colleges falling in Categories I, II and III certain deficiencies were found which were then communicated to the concerned applicants. According to the concerned applicants, either the deficiencies were wrongly noted or they had since then been rectified and compliance was reported. Though compliance was so reported and the Central Government / the MCI were asked to have inspection to verify such compliance, the Central Government communicated its disapproval without taking any steps to assess or verify the compliance report.In most of the matters the applicants approached Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India while in some cases they went to the High Court. In certain cases the High Court directed the Central Government and the MCI to undertake fresh inspection.These orders, at the instance of the MCI were challenged before the SC and the Court had earlier suspended the operation of directions so issued by the High Court.In some cases the High Court did not grant any interim relief and the applicants had preferred special leave petitions challenging the correctness of such refusal.All these petitions were considered together by the Supreme Court.The Apex Court initially referred to the statutory provisions governing the field.The Court tracing the statutory provisions said, “In exercise of powers conferred by Section 10A read with Section 33 of the Act, the MCI with the previous sanction of the Central Government has made “Establishment of the Medical College Regulations, 1999” Paragraph 8 of the Regulations states that permission to establish new Medical College may be granted initially for a period of one year and would be renewed on yearly basis subject to verification of the achievements of annual targets. The process of renewal of permission continues till such time that the establishment of the Medical College and expansion of hospital facilities are completed and formal recognition is granted to the Medical College. A Medical College which gets initial permission to establish and admit first batch of students will thus be required to seek renewal till such time that it gets formal recognition and the students admitted in the first batch are ready to pass out and secure recognized medical qualification. This process thus continues for five years and Category No. III were cases of such Medical Colleges.The Schedule to the Regulations ...

Establishment of medical colleges: MCI and Central Government must show due diligence right from the day when the applications are received: SC

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