The authority to grant recognition for nursing programs lies with State Council while compliance with Indian Nursing Council regulations is mandatory.

JUDGMENT

In all these writ petitions, the petitioners are the educational institutions, running various courses in General Nursing as well as B.Sc Nursing. (For convenience, W.P.(C) No.33806/2025 is taken as the leading case and hereinafter, the reference of the parties and the exhibits are made as per the sequence of the same, as described in the said writ petition, unless otherwise specifically mentioned).

2. According to the petitioner in W.P.(C)No.33806/2025, the said institution was in existence for more than a decade and was offering General Nursing courses. Later, the Central Government introduced a policy not to continue the General Nursing course, and instead, it was decided to offer B.Sc Nursing program by way of substitution. Thereafter, the petitioner started a new institution for B.Sc Nursing program. Later, there was change in policy of the Central Government by which along with the B.Sc Nursing, the General Nursing program was also permitted. Accordingly, the petitioner again applied for starting the General Nursing program, in its college and as per the application submitted by the petitioner in this regard, No objection/Essentiality certificate was obtained from the State Government as evidenced by Ext.P6 on 16.10.2024. The same was issued with certain conditions and one of the said conditions which is incorporated in Clause C thereon was that, the petitioner shall obtain the recognition/NOC of Kerala State Nursing Council, Indian Nursing Council and also the Letter of Permission from the State Government, before commencing the course. Based on the same, the petitioner submitted an application for recognition before the Kerala Nurses and Midwives Council, the 2^nd respondent herein. Thereupon, Ext.P8 was issued to the petitioner, by the 2^nd respondent, permitting the petitioner to start the school of nursing to conduct General Nursing and Midwifery program during 2024-2025 with an annual intake of 40 students. It was again stipulated therein that, the Management should follow strictly, the norms prescribed by the Indian Nursing Council and Kerala Nursing Council for the conduct of the course. It was further stated that the Management should obtain a separate order from the State Nursing Council before admitting the next batch of students during 2025-2026. Accordingly, the admission for 2024-2025 was made.

3. It is to be noted in this regard that, earlier when the petitioner was not permitted to admit the students, the petitioner approached this Court by filing W.P.(C).No. 41284/2024 and as per Ext.P10 and Ext.P11 interim orders, the respondents were directed to permit the petitioner to admit the students, to the extent of the intake as permitted under the sanctions referred to above. In the light of the aforesaid interim orders, Ext.P12 Letter of Permission was granted by the Government, as evidenced by Ext.P12 on 28.11.2024, enabling the petitioner to admit the students and consequently, the admission was made for the academic year 2024-2025. In Ext.P12, it was made clear that, the issuance of the said LOP shall be subject to the final order to be passed in W.P.(C) No.41284/2024 and W.P.(C) No.37093/2024 on the condition that the permission will be issued only after receiving suitability from Indian Nursing Council.

4. Later, when the question of admission of students to 2025-2026 arose, the petitioner approached the 2^nd respondent for sanction of the same and it culminated in Ext.P18. Even though as per Ext.P18, the sanction was accorded to the petitioner by granting conditional affiliation to the petitioner- institution, for conducting General Nursing and Midwifery program, with an intake of 40 students for the academic year 2025-2026, the same was subject to certain seven conditions. Out of the said conditions, the petitioner is aggrieved by condition No.3 and 6 which are as follows:

“(3) Affiliation should be obtained from Indian Nursing Council for the course to be conducted during 2025-2026.

(6) The Management