The Medical Assessment and Rating Board lacks jurisdiction to retrospectively cancel admissions, emphasizing the need for procedural fairness in educational regulation.

JUDGMENT :

1. Under judicial review herein are the actions and directives of the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB), an autonomous board set up under the overall supervision of National Medical Commission (NMC), exercising regulatory powers under National Medical Commission Act, 2019. MARB cancelled the admissions of students in undergraduate (UG) and post graduate (PG) courses in four private medical colleges, who are before this Court along with all the affected students, due to alleged deficiency in infrastructure and faculty etc. MARB and NMC are vital in regulating and eradicating malpractices in medical education. The privatization of medical colleges in India has brought both opportunities and challenges. While it has transformed the educational landscape in medical science by expanding avenues, however, this positive shift has also led to the emergence of unscrupulous institutions prioritizing profit over quality education. These institutions operate with inadequate infrastructure, staff and thriving in the shadows of lack of essential resources necessary for quality education. The consequences of such deficiencies pose a direct threat to the lives of common citizens/public health by producing inadequately trained medical professionals (“Half baked and poor quality doctors[Words of Supreme Court in Manohar Lal v/s MCI – (2013)10 SCC 60]”). MARB and NMC are the regulatory guardians tasked with ensuring high standards in medical education, crucial for aspiring physicians' futures. The unchecked growth of such institutions jeopardizes students' dreams and public health. Vigilance and proactive measures by MARB and NMC are necessary to maintain the integrity of medical education and protect students' aspirations.

1.1. At the same time, one ought to be mindful that grant/renewal of permissions for existing institutions is a crucial process that demands meticulous consideration. The regulatory bodies must delve into and have pragmatic approach qua the complexities surrounding the renewal of permissions for medical colleges that have been operational in the past years. These institutions, having admitted hundreds of students, play a vital role in the healthcare and education sectors. Fair and systematic approach is imperative to avoid abrupt refusals and ensure a gradual fulfillment of infrastructural and faculty requirements. The petitioner medical colleges herein are existing medical colleges/entities that have been imparting education and training to students in the medical field for a considerable period.

2. Lis before this Court is by two sets of aggrieved, i.e., the institutions/medical colleges assailing the regulatory directives of MARB and; the students, who, as a consequence thereof, are direct sufferers as the ultimate brunt of the same, if implemented, would be borne by them. Students are before this Court alleging that for no fault on their part they have to undergo the hardship of wasting their precious career years in the medical colleges already allocated to them as per their merit in the written examination conducted by the respondent NEET.

2.1. Four medical colleges and their students have assailed orders dated 14.04.2022 and 18.04.2022 passed by the Medical Assessment & Rating Board (MARB), vide which it has withdrawn the letter of permission (LOP) for undergraduate (UG) and post graduate (PG) courses in the said colleges for academic session 2021-22. Consequently, it also cancelled the admissions granted to students in those colleges, due to alleged deficiency in infrastructure and faculty etc. Furthermore, recommendation has been made by MARB to NMC for cancellation of recognition granted to the medical institutions with effect from the date of passing of impugned orders. For ready reference, relief sought viz-a-viz current status of students, in each of the petition, in the aforesaid bunch is succinctly put in the tabular form as below :-