Last-minute cases: SC for guidelines on medical admissions

The top court is flooded with last minute petitions relating to the issue of either grant or denial of permission to medical colleges to admit students for MBBS and other courses across the country. 

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and L N Rao, while dealing with medical colleges related matters, observed that annual recurrence of this kind of litigation creates high pressure and anxiety for students, medical institutions and all concerned. 

“All the counsel appearing for the parties agreed that it is high time some deterrent measures be laid down for colleges and state authorities from doing acts which generate such last-minute litigation,” the bench said. “We therefore, consider it appropriate to post the matter for further hearing and orders on such measures on a later date,” the court said and posted the matter for hearing in December. 

The apex court was dealing with petitions filed by some private medical colleges which were denied permission to admit students in MBBS course for the academic year 2017-2018 by the orders issued by the Central Government last month. The colleges had told the bench that they were denied the permission to admit students in spite of the findings arrived at by the Centre that there was no or negligible deficiencies. 

After the government’s order, these colleges had moved the Kerala HC which, in an interim order, had allowed them to provisionally admit students for academic year 2017-18.