VENKATESHWARA UNIVERSITY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner before this Court applied to the respondent-Medical Council of India vide letter dated 29.09.2012, to start MBBS course with 100 seats. No attempt was made by the respondent-MCI to carry out inspection of the hospital and medical college of the petitioner at any time prior to 28.05.2013. In fact, the respondent-MCI, at one point of time, informed the petitioner that its application had been lost/misplaced. Vide e-mail dated 27.05.2013, respondent-MCI appointed three Professors to carry out inspection of the medical college and hospital of petitioner on 29.05.2013 and 30.05.2013. Vide letter dated 29.05.2013, the petitioner requested MCI to carry out the inspection by second week of June sine their lecture hall, hostel, residential block and certain lab equipments were under completion. It was further stated in the said letter that all these pending works would be completed within a week. When the professors appointed by MCI went to the premises of the petitioner at Gajraula on 29.05.2013, they were not allowed to carry out inspection as would be evident from their report dated 29.05.2013, whereby they stated as under:-

(2.) VIDE circular dated 29.05.2013, MCI decided that considering the time schedule prescribed in the Regulations, no requests for postponement/rescheduling of the assessment would be entertained. It was further decided that in case any medical college applying for LOP/COR etc. requests for postponement/rescheduling or refuses to entertain the assessors because of absence of college authorities, MCI will not be able to accede to such request and will go with the scheduled inspection and assessment and will not further assess such college for the current session.

(3.) IT has been submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that there is no rule or regulation, fixing any particular deadline for the purpose of inspection of the colleges/hospitals and in fact MCI has, in the past, been carrying out re- inspection of the premises of various colleges, where deficiencies were found during the first inspection. It has been pointed out that in its meeting held on 11th and 12th June, 2013, the Board of Governors decided to carry out physical verification for the purpose of ensuring compliance in respect of as many as 5 colleges. He also submits that the deficiencies found in those cases can by no means be said to be minor deficiencies, as would be evident from the chart which the petitioner has placed on record along with the affidavit filed today in the Court. It is further pointed out that even in its meeting held on 02.07.2013, the Board of Governors allowed physical verification in respect of Sivagangai Medical College, Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu.