Sree Balaji medical college: MCI order on PG courses intake increase quashed by HC
Chennai: The Madras high court has set aside an order of the Medical Council of India, disapproving the proposal submitted by the Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital at Chromepet in Chennai for increase in intake of the Post Graduate courses.
Allowing the petition filed by the college, Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana said since the refusal is based only on discrepancies, the matter is remitted back to MCI/Central Government for reconsideration to grant permission, if otherwise, the college is entitled for the proposal already submitted for the academic year 2020-2021.
The judge said when this court put a specific question as to whether the MCI has got any method or norm based on which the IPD and total daily admissions are computed, on instructions, the counsel for the MCI stated that there is no specific formula for the same. It is also stated that there are no specific norms.
Clause 11.3 of the 2000 Regulations deals with the bed strength in clinical departments which merely says that a department to be recognised for training of post graduate students shall have at least 60 beds each of general medicine, general surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology and 30 beds each for other specialties for degree and diploma courses and 20 beds each in case of super specialty courses. The petitioner, having applied for increase in intake of PG students, had already complied with the MCI norms of students for PG courses. Excepting the above, there is no specific ratio mentioning about the number of beds for number of PG students. In the absence of verification of the original records by the inspection teams, it will not lie in the mouth of the MCI that they are falsified. It is also not the case of the MCI that the petitioner college refused to furnish the original records. It cannot take away the valuable rights of the petitioner college for no fault of theirs, the judge added.
The judge said it was the claim of the petitioner that it had applied for additional intake of PG students only on the strength of the fact that it has already complied with the norms of MCI. In the absence of any specific or special rules for additional intake of students, the MCI cannot deny the approval on discrepancies, when the said discrepancies were also explained by the petitioner college and they were mere discrepancies and not deficiency. In the absence of any deficiency, the disapproval of the MCI cannot be sustained, the judge added.
