SC mulls provisional permission to medical colleges

The Supreme Court faced a peculiar situation when the state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand approached it after a few medical colleges run by them were found to be deficient in facilities and declared unfit for further admissions to the MBBS course.

A vacation bench of justices U U Lalit and Deepak Gupta acknowledged the strange and anomalous situation wherein even the state government's medical colleges are lacking in the essential facilities. The court, however, mulled granting permission to them as an exception.

"The letters of permission in respect of medical colleges run by the concerned state government have special significance in as much as seats in government medical colleges go purely on merit and at nominal fees," the bench said.

"Any refusal of letter of permission is bound to reflect in reduction of seats available to meritorious candidates. However, at the same time, the adherence to the requirement of having requisite faculty, facility and infrastructure as laid down by the Medical Council of India (MCI) from time to time must be scrupulously observed," the bench said.

As the counselling for admission to MBBS course is set to begin from June 19, the court asked both the MCI and the central government to come out on Monday with suggestions or solutions wherein the colleges run by the state governments could be allowed to function as an exception.

"If the seats in government medical colleges are not available by then (June 19), that will definitely work to the prejudice of the concerned candidates," the bench said.

The court also asked the state governments to explain by June 18 the nature of deficiencies, pointed out by the MCI, if those are rectified or not, a clear-cut timeline within which those deficiencies will be rectified, the outlay of capital required for removing such deficiencies and the responsibilities to be shouldered by the principal secretary, in-charge, medical education, as well as chief secretary and requisite undertaking in that behalf.