The necessity of a Suitability Certificate for the grant of permission to commence nursing courses is upheld as essential by the court.

ORDER

Dated this the 8^th day of December, 2025 This review petition is filed mainly on the ground that the finding in the judgment regarding the necessity of obtaining Suitability Certificate as a pre-requisite for grant of Letter of Permission by the Government, is erroneous.

2. Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner relies on the Full Bench decision in Velayudhan Memorial Trust v. State of Kerala [2013 (3) KLT 367], particularly paragraph 22 therein, to contend that the authority of the Indian Nursing Council (INC) is limited to the establishment of standards of education which includes prescribing the syllabus, norms of training, infrastructure for conducting the courses etc. and it is for the State Nursing Council to conduct inspection and ensure that those parameters are satisfied. It is the further contention of the learned Senior Counsel that, even going by Regulation 4 of the Indian Nursing Council (Minimum Pre-requisites For Granting Suitability To Nursing Programs) Regulations, 2020, Suitability Certificate from the Indian Nursing Council is not a pre- requisite and need be applied for only within six months of obtaining recognition from the State Nursing Council.

3. Learned Standing Counsel for the INC contends that going by Section 13 of the Indian Nursing Council Act , 1947, the Regulations as well as the Guidelines issued by the INC, Suitability Certificate is essential for commencing B.Sc.Nursing course.

4. Learned Government Pleader submits that the No Objection Certificate issued by the Government contains a specific condition that Suitability Certificate of the INC should be obtained.

5. In reply, learned Senior Counsel contended that, executive orders issued by the Government cannot override the prescription contained in the Regulations.

6. The contention that Suitability Certificate of the INC is not required having not been urged earlier, the prayer for review based on that ground cannot be countenanced. The contention that Suitability Certificate from the INC is not a pre-requisite, though raised earlier, was repelled on finding that the petitioner had applied for Suitability Certificate and the ground was raised only when deficiencies were noted by the INC inspection team. Being so, if the contention is considered again, that will amount to rehearing of the writ petition, which is not permissible in review jurisdiction.

For the aforementioned reasons, the review petition is dismissed.