The main legal point established in the judgment is the limitation of the Indian Nursing Council's power to recognize nursing institutions and the importance of compliance with standards and coordination with the State Council for recognition of institutions.

JUDGMENT :

1. Since all the instant petitions involve a common controversy though with marginal variation in the contextual facts, therefore, for the purposes of the present analogous adjudication, the facts and the prayer clauses are being taken from the above-numbered S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 1804/2021, while treating the same as a lead case; rival submissions of the parties and the observations of the Court, in the present order, would also be based, particularly, on the factual matrix of the lead case.

2. The prayer clauses read as under:-

“It is, therefore, respectfully prayed that this writ petition may kindly be allowed and by an appropriate writ, order or direction:-

i. the writ petition filed by the petitioner may kindly be allowed;

ii. The record of the case may kindly be called for;

iii. It may kindly be declared that the petitioner institution is entitled to take admission of students for B.Sc. Nursing Course for the academic session 2020-21 with intake capacity of 50 seats.

iv. The respondents may kindly be directed to include petitioner in the list of institutions with intake capacity of 50 seats and allowed to take admission of students for B.Sc. Nursing Course for the session 2020-21.

v. any other appropriate relief which this Hon’ble Court deems just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case may kindly be passed in favour of the petitioner.

vi. Costs of the writ petition be also awarded in favour of the petitioner.”

3. As the pleaded facts would reveal, the petitioner is an unaided self-financed educational society having its college, namely, Bansal College of Nursing, at Hanumangarh. The petitioner-institution filed an application for issuance of No Objection Certificate (NOC) for opening new B.Sc Nursing College, and the same was duly issued by the State Government on 30.01.2007, to run the B.Sc. Nursing Course with intake capacity of 50 seats.

3.1. In pursuance of issuance of such NOC, the petitioner-institution applied before the respondent-Indian Nursing Council (INC) for grant of recognition for undertaking B.Sc Nursing Course; whereafter, the respondent- INC sought NOC from the respondent-Rajasthan University of Health And Science (RUHS); thereupon, the respondent-RUHS vide its communication dated 07.02.2007, issued the requisite NOC to respondent-INC and stated that the RUHS has no objection in case the respondent-INC grants permission to the petitioner for staring the B.Sc. Nursing Course. Thereafter, the respondent-INC vide order dated 18.08.2008 granted permission to the petitioner-institution for conducting the Course in question with intake capacity of 30 seats.

3.2. Subsequently, upon an application being filed and after conducting the necessary inspection, the respondent-INC granted permission to the petitioner institution to run the Course in question with the approved intake capacity of 30 seats, for the academic sessions 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013- 14 and 2014-15. Thereafter, the respondent-INC again conducted inspection of the petitioner-institution and granted permission to run the Course in question for the academic sessions 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 with same approved intake capacity. The respondent-RUHS also issued a list of institutions permitting them to run the Course in question with their respective intake capacity of students; in the said list, the name of the petitioner-institution was also included with intake capacity of 30 seats. The respondent-INC further extended such permission for the academic session 2019-20.

3.3 Thereafter, the respondent-INC and the respondent-State issued office notes dated 03.11.2020 and 09.12.2020, respectively, and stated inter alia that the respondent INC was having no power to grant recognition to the nursing institutions, as only the State Nursing Council/State Government is empowered to do so.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that despite issuance of the clarification note by the State Government and the INC,