VARUNARJUN TRUST & ANR. versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Citation: [2017] 12 S.C.R. 753 · Decided: 12-09-2017 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: DIPAK MISRA · Disposal: Disposed off

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Judgment (excerpt)

[2017] 12 S.C.R. 753 
VARUNARJUN TRUST & ANR. 
v. 
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 
(Writ Petition (Civil) No. 787of2017) 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 
[DIPAK MISRA, CJI, AMITAVA ROY AND 
A. M. KHANWILKAR, JJ.] 
Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 - ss.10-A, 19-A -
Application by petitioner for establishment of a new medical college, 
to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, fi·om academic session 
2016-17 onwardY - Conditional approval-cum-Letter of Permission 
(LOP) granted by Central govt. - However, in view of certain 
deficiencies noticed during assessment conducted by Medical 
Council of India (MCI), Ministry vide letter dtd. 31.05.17, debarred 
A 
B 
c 
the petitioner-college from admitting students for two years i.e. 2017-
D 
18 & 2018-19, and also authorised MCI to encash the bank 
guarantee -
Writ petition by petitioner before High Court 
challenging this order - Pursuant to decision of High Court 
disposing of the writ petition, Hearing Committee considered the 
fresh representation given by petitioner and submitted its report to 
the Ministry - Relying on the said recommendation of Hearing 
E 
Committee, Ministry vi de order dtd. 19. 08.17 reiterated its earlier 
decision dtd. 31. 05.17 - Petitioner seeking quashing of the said 
order - Held: In the instant case, the deficiency of faculty and 
residents taken note of by the Hearing Committee and Central 
Government in the impugned decision, was significant and cannot 
F 
be treated as trivial or unrelated to maintenance of high standards 
of imparting medical education - In view of the fact that petitioner 
failed to fulfil the conditions specified in the conditional LOP, the 
question of confirming the LOP for the academic session 2016-17 
without removal of deficiencies in all respects does not arise -
However, absence of faculty members and r{?s,idents .on the day of G 
inspection could not be the basis for determining the efficiency and 
performance of the college for the rest of the academic session, as 
it is not the opinion of the Hearing Committee or of the Competent 
Authority that requisite number of facul~v members and residents 
were not employed in the petitioner-college or that the claim of the 
H 
753 
754 
·SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017] 12 S.C.R. 
' . 
A petitioner-college in that behalf was .bogus - This aspect requires 
proper verification and consideration - MCI to send its Inspection 
Team within a period of three months to submit an assessment report 
regarding the overall pe1formance and efficiency of the petitioner-
college ·- Minisfly to take a final decision within one month of the 
receipt of recommendation from MCI - Students already admitted in 
8 
petitioner-college on the bc1sis o,/conditional LOP for the academic 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
·session 2016~17. to continue their studJes - Respondents to treat 
the renewal. application submitted by petitioner-college for the 
academic session 2017-18 as one for the academic session 2018-
19. 
Disposing of the writ petitio~, the Court 
HELD: l.1 In this case, the deficiency of faculty and 
residents was significant, besides the other two deficiencies taken 
note of by the Hearing Committee and the Central Government 
in the impugned decision. For that, the college did not produce 
supportive documents or evidence in respect of its claim of 6 
(six) minor operations and list of paramedical non-teaching staff. 
These deficiencies cannot be treated as trivial or unrelated to 
maintenance of high standards of imparting medical education. 
[Para 13] [765-B-C] 
1.2 The proposal under consideration was for establishment 
of a new medical college from academic session 2016-17 and that 
has to be examined keeping in mind the norms specified in the 
statutory scheme formulated regarding permission to establish a 
new medical college. That sclieme postulates the minimum 
standard of education, which has been formulated by the MCI in 
terms of Section 19-A of the Act. The scheme provides for 
minimum infrastructure facilities and staff requirements for 100 
admissfons. It also provides guidance as to how deficiency in 
respect of those matters should be calculated. The Medical 
Council of India has published those norms and the schemes for . 
requirements to be fulfilled by the applicant College(s) for 
obtaining Letter of Intent and Letter of Permission for 
establishment of a new medical college and for yearly renewal 
under Section 10-A of the Act. Considering the requirements of 
the scheme and as the petitioner 

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