HC upholds validity of National Commission for Homeopathy Act

The Karnataka high court has upheld the constitutional validity of various provisions of the National Commission for Homeopathy (NCH) Act, 2020.

A division bench, headed by Justice Alok Aradhe, passed this order on the petition filed by Karnataka State Homeopathic Medical College Managements Association challenging the provision that prescribes uniform National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate Homeopathy courses in all the institutions governed under the Act.

The bench, however, clarified that the October 18, 2022, guidelines framed by the Ministry of Ayush and December 6, 2022, Regulations framed by National Commission for Homeopathy do not apply to the process of admission to Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) undergraduate course which have already commenced on July 19, 2022.

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The bench has said that the petitioners should be permitted to admit students on remaining vacant seats on the basis of academic eligibility for the academic session 2022-23 only.

The petitioners had claimed that institutions imparting education in homeopathy courses are not of All India character and there is no excess demand over availability, giving scope for malpractices. Hence, the requirement of NEET for grant of admission to competing aspirants for admission does not arise, the petition said.

It was also contended that equating and comparing the study of homeopathy with allopathic medicine and dentistry and applying rigors of provision for grant of admission and standards of education provided for such courses is manifestly arbitrary and suffers from the vice of non application of mind.

On the other hand, the National Homeopathy Commission argued that the NCH Act and the Regulations have been enacted with an object to provide a medical education system, which includes access to quality and affordable medical education.

The bench noted that section 14 of the Act itself contains a provision for admission to BHMS course through NEET. “In the instant case, by enacting Section 14, the right of the petitioners to admit students in educational institutions has merely been regulated and the same does not amount to violation of the rights of the petitioners under the constitution or any other enactment. Therefore, the principle of doctrine of non retrogression is not applicable to the facts of the case,” the bench said.