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A Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Aniruddha Bose today stayed the order of the Bombay High Court permitting Annasaheb Chudaman Patil Medical College to admit 100 MBBS students for the academic year 2021-22.

Court further granted liberty to the National Medical Commission to carry out a fresh inspection within a period of two months for the purpose of determining as to whether any deficiencies in complying with its norms continue to exist from the previous inspection.

It is to be noted that the Supreme Court in February 2022 had set aside two orders of the Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court which allowed re-inspection of the college after the commission had refused to grant permission to increase its intake from 100 students to 150 students.

The Top Court had noted, “The High Court has not dealt with the merits of the rival contentions. Hence, it would be inappropriate to enter upon the merits of the dispute, for the first time, in proceedings under Article 136 of the Constitution. The High Court having not dealt with the merits of the rival contentions, we set aside the impugned orders.”

According to reports, Medical College was established in 1992 with an annual intake capacity of 100 seats for the MBBS course. The College had, in November 2020, sought an increase in the intake capacity from 100 to 150 MBBS seats for the academic year 2021-22. On July 15, 2021 renewal of recognition was granted for the academic year 2021-22 with the condition that the continuation of recognition would be in accordance with law.

On January 14, 2022, a surprise inspection was conducted at the premises of the Medical College and it was found to be deficient in many ways, hence, the permission to increase the intake was accordingly withdrawn.

When the matter came up for hearing today Nidesh Gupta, Sr. Adv, appearing for the college, submitted that the students have been admitted and they will be put to great difficulty if the order of the High Court is stayed.

On the other hand, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the National Medical Commission submitted that the High Court holding that NMC lacks authority in to issue a stoppage of admissions does not appear to be correct in view of the provisions of Section 26(1)(f) of the National Medical Commission Act 2019.

Justice Chandrachud on hearing the parties remarked, “When there was a surprise inspection last time, it appears that you were aware of it. The inspection was conducted on 14th January but you had records of patient’s parameters for 16th January.”

Justice Chandrachud further said that the hospital also had perfectly healthy children admitted just to show numbers.

Court thus held, “Prima facie, at this stage, it appears that the finding of the High Court in regard to the lack of authority to issue a stoppage of admissions does not appear to be correct in view of the provisions of Section 26(1)(f) of the National Medical Commission Act 2019.”

Court further held that the portion of the impugned order of the High Court, permitting the Medical College to admit 100 MBBS students for the academic year 2021-22 shall remain stayed, pending further orders.

Court also granted liberty to the National Medical Commission and the Medical Assessment & Rating Board (MARB) to carry out a fresh inspection within a period of two months for the purpose of determining as to whether any deficiencies in complying with the required norms continue to exist.

Case title: National Medical Commission Vs Annasaheb Chudaman Patil Medical College