An Essentiality Certificate for a medical college must be unconditional, with all requirements fulfilled in praesenti, and a conditional EC is not valid and will not be acted upon by NMC.

ORDER

This writ petition has been filed challenging the impugned letter of first respondent dated 09.10.2025 and consequently, direct respondents to issue Essentiality Certificate [for brevity ‘EC’] in favour of the petitioner pursuant to petitioner’s application dated 22.08.2025.

2. The petitioner acquired the subject property through an e-auction conducted by the Indian Bank on 31.07.2024. This property was previously owned by Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Science and Technology [PRIST] Trust. As part of acquisition, the petitioner took possession of the movable and immovable assets including 37.875 acres of land and statutory approvals that were in the name of PRIST Trust pertaining to the subject property. The further case of petitioner is that PRIST Trust was issued with EC on 28.08.2014 for the establishment of a medical college with an annual intake of 150 students within the campus area. Subsequently, the Medical Council of India and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, granted permission to PRIST Trust to admit students to the MBBS course for the academic year 2016-17.

3. The said PRIST Trust was barred from admitting students from the academic year 2017-18 and 2018-19 and PRIST Trust also failed to apply for renewal of admissions for the subsequent academic years. 4. The petitioner after acquiring the property submitted an application dated 07.01.2025 to the National Medical Commission [for brevity ‘NMC’] seeking approval to admit 150 students for the academic year 2025-26 under the name ‘Chettinad Institute of Medical Sciences’. On 28.05.2025, the petitioner received a show cause notice from NMC highlighting certain deficiencies in the application. Among other things, NMC noted that the EC relied upon by the petitioner was issued in the name of PRIST Trust and since the petitioner had applied under a new category, EC has to be obtained in the name of the petitioner.

5. In response to the above notice, the petitioner submitted a detailed reply on 02.06.2025 clarifying the issues raised and enclosing all the supporting documents. However, on 08.07.2025, NMC issued a letter rejecting the application submitted by the petitioner.

6. The petitioner applied for issuance of a fresh EC for the academic year 2025-26 through a request letter dated 22.08.2025 sent to second respondent. The petitioner stated that they are holding requisite infrastructure, equipment availability as per the NMC norms and requested for EC at the earliest.

7. The first respondent, through communication dated 09.10.2025 directed the petitioner to produce Environmental Clearance Certificate [for brevity ‘ECC’] from the competent authority and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board Certificate, to proceed further with the application submitted by the petitioner. The said letter has been put to challenge in the present writ petition.

8. The first respondent has filed a counter affidavit. The first respondent has taken a stand that NMC has issued fresh regulations in the year 2023 and it prescribes for minimum requirements and check list has been drawn by the Director of Medical Education and Research to assess compliance with the NMC norms as well as other statutory requirements, which includes planning permissions, pollution control board clearance certificate and ECC, wherever applicable. Based on the same, the team conducted inspection on 30.08.2025. On receipt of the report from the inspection team, the Government through letter dated 24.09.2025, directed the petitioner to produce three documents viz., building completion certificate from PWD, certificate from the Pollution Control Board and ECC from the competent authority.

9. The petitioner requested that a conditional EC can be issued subject to production of ECC and certificate from the Pollution Control Board before commencement of admission.

10. The first respondent has taken a further stand that with regard to EC issued to PRIST Trust dated 28.08.2014, it was valid only s