Rajasthan High Court Halts State-Wide BSc Nursing Counselling Over NOC Irregularities

Jaipur, Rajasthan – In a significant intervention impacting thousands of nursing aspirants, a division bench of the Rajasthan High Court has ordered a complete stay on the counselling process for the B.Sc. Nursing course for the 2025-26 academic session. The court's decision underscores the judiciary's commitment to upholding regulatory standards in professional education, prioritizing procedural integrity over the immediate progression of admissions.

The order, issued by a division bench comprising Dr. Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati and Justice Bipin Gupta, came in response to a special appeal filed by the Rajasthan University of Health and Sciences (RUHS). The university challenged an interim order from a single-judge bench that had permitted a private institution, Deepshikha Kala Sansthan (Regional Nursing College), to participate in the counselling process despite lacking a valid No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the state government and the requisite affiliation from RUHS.

The court has directed the State to resolve all pending NOC issues "preferably within two weeks," after which any party can move an application to resume the counselling process.

The Genesis of the Dispute: A Single College's Plea

The legal battle originated from a writ petition filed by Deepshikha Kala Sansthan. The college approached the High Court after the state government failed to grant it an NOC, a critical prerequisite for obtaining affiliation from RUHS. The college sought judicial direction to compel RUHS to grant affiliation and allow its participation in the counselling for its 50-seat intake.

The single-judge bench, in an interim order, granted relief to the college, directing RUHS to permit its inclusion in the state-wide counselling process. This decision effectively allowed the college to proceed with admissions while its regulatory status remained unresolved.

RUHS's Appeal and the Primacy of Regulatory Frameworks

Aggrieved by the single-bench order, RUHS, represented by counsel Vinay Kothari, filed a special appeal, arguing that the directive fundamentally undermined the established regulatory framework. The university's central contention rested on Ordinance 80 of RUHS, which unequivocally mandates a valid NOC from the state government as a precondition for any college to receive affiliation.

RUHS argued that in the absence of an NOC and subsequent affiliation, it was "not legally permissible for the College to undertake any nursing course." The university's counsel contended that allowing counselling to proceed with institutions that had not met these foundational requirements would introduce significant discrepancies and potential irregularities into the admission process. This could lead to a scenario where students are admitted to colleges that are ultimately found to be non-compliant, thereby creating "conflicting rights" and jeopardizing their academic careers.

The State of Rajasthan, represented by Additional Advocate General Narendra Singh Rajpurohit, supported the university's position. He informed the court that his instructions were also to allow counselling only after all NOC-related matters had been properly addressed and finalized.

The Division Bench's Rationale: Preventing Systemic Deviations

The division bench, acknowledging the gravity of halting a state-wide academic process, noted that it was a decision not taken lightly. The judges observed that "ordinarily the Court would have hesitated" to issue such a sweeping stay, given the larger public interest in timely admissions.

However, the bench concluded that the potential for systemic harm outweighed the inconvenience of a temporary delay. In its order, the court articulated a clear rationale for the stay: "to prevent deviations in the Nursing Courses and avoid creation of conflicting rights." By pausing the entire process until the fundamental issue of NOCs is resolved, the court aims to ensure that every institution participating in the counselling has met the minimum legal and regulatory standards.

This pre-emptive measure is designed to protect students from the potential chaos of being allocated seats in colleges that may later be disqualified, a situation that would inevitably lead to further litigation and uncertainty.

Legal and Administrative Implications

The High Court's order serves as a potent reminder of the judiciary's role in enforcing administrative discipline in the education sector. The decision reinforces several key legal principles:

1. Mandatory Nature of Pre-Affiliation Conditions: The court's stay implicitly upholds the argument that statutory prerequisites for affiliation, such as obtaining an NOC, are mandatory and not merely procedural formalities that can be bypassed by judicial orders.
2. Judicial Restraint and Systemic Integrity: While courts possess the power to grant interim relief, this case demonstrates a higher bench prioritizing the integrity of an entire system over the grievance of a single litigant. The division bench effectively ruled that the potential for widespread disruption and legal conflict warranted a temporary halt.
3. The State's Duty to Act Expeditiously: By directing the state government to resolve the NOC issue within two weeks, the court has placed the onus on the executive to act efficiently. This directive addresses the root cause of the litigation—the delay in processing the college's NOC application—and aims to prevent similar disputes in the future.

For legal practitioners in education law, this case highlights the critical importance of ensuring clients (educational institutions) have completed all regulatory compliances before seeking admission-related reliefs. It also underscores the strategic value of appealing interim orders that could have far-reaching, systemic consequences.

The temporary suspension of the B.Sc. Nursing counselling will undoubtedly cause anxiety for thousands of aspiring students across Rajasthan. However, the High Court's intervention is aimed at ensuring that when the process resumes, it does so on a legally sound footing, protecting the long-term interests of the very students it currently affects. The matter is scheduled to be listed again in two weeks, by which time the state's action on the pending NOCs will determine the future course of nursing admissions in Rajasthan.