The court upheld that compliance with Indian Nursing Council regulations for seat enhancement is mandatory, and the institution's failure to meet conditions justified the denial of additional intake.

JUDGMENT

Muralee Krishna S., J.

The appellant, who is the petitioner in W.P.(C)No.40066 of 2025, filed this writ appeal under Section 5(i) of the Kerala High Court Act , 1958, challenging the judgment dated 17.12.2025 passed by the learned Single Judge, whereby W.P.(C)No.40066 of 2025 as well as W.P.(C)No.33806 of 2025 filed by another school of nursing were dismissed.

2. According to the appellant-writ petitioner, the said college started in the year 2010 under the Chitra Multi-specialty Hospital, Pathanamthitta, which commenced functioning in the year 1993. The appellant college offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in nursing, including B.Sc. Nursing, M.Sc. Nursing (with specializations like Medical Surgical, Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynaecology Nursing) and the G.N.M. (General Nursing and Midwifery) diploma. The appellant further pleads that it has been offering B.Sc. Nursing course for several years, with an intake of 40 seats. The infrastructure of the parent hospital and the college was enhanced, now making it possible for the intake of more students to the B.Sc. Nursing course. Accordingly, on 10.06.2024, the Chairman of the Chitra Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre submitted a representation before the 1^st respondent, State of Kerala, for the enhancement of seats from 40 to 75 for the academic year 2025-26. After due verification of the infrastructure and faculty requirements, the 1^st respondent issued Ext.P1 order dated 29.10.2024, granting No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the enhancement of seats for B.Sc. Nursing from 40 to 60 seats in the appellant college with certain conditions, including a condition that students should be admitted to the increased seats only after obtaining recognition from the Kerala Nursing Council and affiliation from the Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS) and a suitability certificate from the Indian Nursing Council (INC). The copy of the said order of the 1^st respondent dated 29.10.2024 is produced as Ext.P1 in the writ petition.

2.1 To comply with the conditions in Ext.P1 order, the Principal of the appellant college sent two representations dated 02.11.2024 and 04.01.2025, respectively, to the 3^rd respondent Kerala Nurses and Midwives Council for affiliation to the sanctioned enhancement of seats for B.Sc. Nursing from 40 to 60. By Ext.P2 order dated 30.06.2025, the 3^rd respondent accorded conditional affiliation to the appellant college for conducting B.Sc. Nursing programme with an intake of 60 students for the academic year 2025-26. Similarly, the appellant college submitted applications before the 2^nd respondent KUHS and the 4^th respondent INC. The INC submitted a report before its Executive Committee after inspecting the appellant college. The Executive Committee, after examining the report, found that the appellant college is suitable for an intake of only 40 students and informed the same to the appellant by issuing Ext.P3 letter dated 11.09.2025, however, stating no reasons or defects for refusing enhancement of the seats, but only stating that the reason for the denial of additional 20 seats would be informed later.

2.2 The 2^nd respondent, KUHS, after considering the application made by the appellant college, issued Ext.P4 order dated 04.10.2025, according sanction to grant conditional provisional affiliation for the enhancement of B.Sc. Nursing seats from 40 to 60 for the academic year 2025-26. After the issuance of Ext.P3 letter, the 4^th respondent, INC, issued Ext.P5 letter dated 16.10.2025 to the appellant college stating that the college shall not admit more than the suitable seats, i.e., 40 seats in B.Sc. Nursing programm