Supreme Court rejects NMC pleas over non-approval to seat increase in medical college

NEW DELHI : The National Medical Commission (NMC) is an organ of the State and is expected to act in a fair and reasonable manner, the Supreme Court has said while dismissing with costs of Rs 10 lakh its pleas challenging an order of the Kerala High Court. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan was dealing with pleas filed by the NMC and others in a matter related to the withdrawal of approval granted to a medical college for increase of seats from 150 to 250 for academic year 2023-24.

The apex court observed that making a party run from court to court to seek permission, specifically when the institute has been functional for 18 years, was only an attempt to harass the institution. "Prima facie, we find that the attitude of the NMC is not of a model litigant. The NMC is an organ of the State and is expected to act in a fair and reasonable manner," the bench said in its order passed on September 9. "We are, therefore, of the view that the present special leave petitions are an abuse of the process of law and, therefore, dismissed with cost quantified at Rs 10,00,000 to be paid within four weeks from the date of this order," it said.

The bench noted the NMC and others have challenged before it the high court's August 13 order which directed the medical college to file an undertaking. The high court had further directed that the commission, on receipt of such an undertaking, should grant permission to the institute. The apex court noted that perusal of material placed on record revealed that by a letter dated February 27, 2023, issued by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB), the medical college had initially been granted approval for increase of seats from 150 to 250 for academic year 2023-24. "However, by a subsequent letter dated April 5, 2023, issued by the MARB, it was withdrawn," the bench noted. It observed that the matter being sub-judice could not have been the ground for disapproval of the proposal.

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NMC approval to increase in seats

The bench said if the NMC had any doubts, it could have approached the court concerned and sought clarification. "Insofar as the second ground is concerned, the perusal of the impugned order would reveal that a consent of affiliation (COA) has admittedly been granted in favour of the respondent-medical college on August 12, 2024," it said. The NMC's counsel told the bench that the grant of permission has to be considered on an annual basis and the earlier disapproval was for academic year 2023-2024.

"Making a party run from court to court to seek permission, specifically when the institute concerned is not a new institute and has been running for the last 18 years, in our view, is only an attempt to harass the institution," the bench said, while dismissing the pleas. It noted that when the approval granted earlier for the academic year 2023-24 was withdrawn, no deficiency, except non-grant of COA, was pointed out. The bench said the cost of Rs 5 lakh be deposited in the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association to be used for the purpose of library and the remaining cost be deposited with the Supreme Court Bar Association Advocates Welfare Fund.