Govt can't force St John's to part with seats: HC

The High Court said on Wednesday that the state government “cannot force” City-based St John’s Medical College, an unaided religious minority institution, to surrender 25 per cent of its medical seats to the government in lieu of granting approval to the college to increase seat intake.

Justice B V Nagarathna directed the state government to consider its application for essentiality and feasibility certificate within two weeks.

The court disposed of a petition filed by Catholic Bishops' Conference of India Society for Medical Education and St John’s Medical College.

The petitioners approached the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) in March 2014 to increase their medical seats from the existing 60 to 150 for the 2015-2016 academic year .

The RGUHS had inspected the medical college and hospital and recommended increasing the seat intake. The state government, which had to provide approval to the college with essentiality and feasibility certificate, however  laid down a condition that the institution should surrender 25 per cent of its seats.