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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR
Dinesh Mehta, J.
Tirupati Balaji Educational Trust and ors. - Petitioners
Versus
Union Of India, Through Its Secretary, Ministry Of Health And Family Welfare, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi and ors. – Respondents
S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 12053/2024
Decided On : 08-10-2024
Medical - Enhancement of Seats - National Medical Commission Act, 2019, Section 16, Section 28 - The court interpreted the provisions regarding the enhancement of medical college seats, emphasizing that penalties for deficiencies should not preclude consideration of current infrastructure and faculty adequacy.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioners challenged the rejection of their application to increase medical college seats from 150 to 250, citing substantial investments in infrastructure and faculty recruitment, while the Medical Assessment and Rating Board cited deficiencies as grounds for rejection.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the rejection of the petitioners' application was based on unsustainable grounds, particularly the reliance on outdated faculty attendance data and the imposition of fines, which should not affect the assessment of current capabilities.
Issues: Whether the rejection of the petitioners' application for enhancement of seats was justified based on the cited deficiencies and the process followed by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the assessment for seat enhancement must consider the current status of faculty and infrastructure, and penalties for deficiencies should not automatically disqualify an institution from seeking enhancements.
Result: The writ petition is allowed, and the rejection of the application for enhancement of seats is quashed.
JUDGMENT :
Dinesh Mehta, J.
1. By way of present writ petition, the petitioners have challenged the communication dated 29.06.2024, whereby petitioners’ request for enhancement of seats from 150 to 250 has been turned down.
2. The petitioner No.1 is a trust, running a medical college in the name and style as Pacific Medical College and Hospital at Udaipur-Petitioner No.2.
3. The petitioner No.1 was granted permission to run MBBS course with the intake capacity of 150 seats for the academic year 2014-15, whereafter in the year 2021, the petitioner started post graduation course as well.
4. As per the assertions made by the petitioner, a huge amount of Rs. 191,50,08,540/- was incurred on development and infrastructure apart from purchase of equipment worth Rs. 50 crores. An assertion has also been made by the petitioner that it has a fully functional hospital with 1040 beds.
5. On 18.08.2023, applications for establishment of new medical colleges, increase/enhancement of intake capacity were invited with the following timeline:-
| S.No. | Steps | Timeline |
| 1. | Online application to NMC-Filling Application form, Fees, supporting documents | August – September |
| 2. | Evaluation of application by NMC- Rejected in case of incomplete of missing documents or approved in case of complete application as per norms | August – October |
| 3. | Physical inspection of the facilities by team of assessors appointed by NMC | September – December |
| 4. | Evaluation of the assessment report submitted by Assessors | October – January |
| 5. | Grant of Permission – LOP | February |
| 6. | Admission Process | July – August |
| 7. | Renewal process | 6 months before the new academic year |
6. The petitioners submitted an application for enhancement of sitting capacity from 150 to 250 on 16.09.2023. After certain correspondence, petitioners’ application for enhancement of seats came to be rejected by Medical Assessment and Rating Board (hereinafter referred to as ‘the MARB’) constituted under Section 16 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the NMC’) on 03.04.2024. Whereafter, for the reasons best known to the respondents, the said order was recalled by the MARB.
7. A show cause notice dated 17.05.2024 came to be issued calling upon the petitioners to furnish self- assessment as per the Guidelines for Under-Graduate Courses under Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Medical Courses, Increase of Seats for Existing Courses and Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Regulations of 2023’).
8. In response to the said show cause notice, the petitioners submitted it self-assessment report on 27.05.2024.
9. A show cause notice dated 30.05.2024 was again issued by the Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB)/National Medical Commission asking the petitioners as to why the existing number of seats from 150 be not reduced. The petitioners were called for personal hearing on 03.06.2024.
10. Instead of reducing the seats the respondents passed an order dated 05.06.2024 and imposed a fine of Rs.6 lakh upon the petitioners.
11. On 24.06.2024, another notice in relation to petitioners’ request for enhancement of seats came to be issued and petitioners were invited for personal hearing on 25.06.2024.
12. According to the petitioners, the MARB gave less than two minutes’ time for making submissions and the petitioners’ application for enhancement of seats came to be rejected cursorily by order dated 29.06.2024.
13. The petitioners preferred a first appeal under section 28 of the provisions of NMC Act on 06.07.2024.
14. But as the petitioners’ first appeal was not being taken up for hearing, the petitioners approached this Court by way of present writ petition, which was filed on 20.07.2024.
15. The matter was taken up on various occasions, during which an objection of pendency of first appeal was raised by Mr. Mukesh Rajpurohit, learned Dy. Solicitor General.
16.
Enhancement of medical college seats must be evaluated based on current infrastructure and faculty, not solely on past deficiencies or penalties.
The court held that expert regulatory bodies' assessments of medical institutions' deficiencies are not to be overridden by the judiciary unless significant jurisdictional errors are proven.
The distinction between the establishment of new medical colleges and the enhancement of student intake in existing colleges is critical; prior judicial rulings must not impede justified applications....
The central legal point established in the judgment is that the rejection of the petitioner's request for increasing the intake of students in the MBBS course was unjustified and unsustainable, as it....
Court reaffirmed the necessity of timely processing applications for educational seat enhancements, emphasizing adherence to statutory timelines under the National Medical Commission Act.
When public interest is involved, facts emerging from subsequent events can be looked into to support an administrative order.
Advocates appeared :For the Appellant : Siddharth Radhe Lal Gupta For the Respondent : J. K. Jain, Anoop Nair, Akshay Pawar
The court upheld the authority of the National Medical Commission to regulate medical education standards, emphasizing adherence to statutory requirements for college establishment.
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