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Dr Ashok Sinha v. The State of Tripura & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 784Decided 19 Jul 2019
Civil Appeal No. 5708 of 2019
Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice Indira Banerjee

Background

In an earlier PIL, the Tripura High Court had directed the State government to take an administrative decision on how the Tripura Medical College should be governed, after which the State reconstituted a Society (with both government and non-government members) to run the college. The same petitioner filed a fresh writ petition alleging nothing had actually changed, challenging the college's admission procedure and the fees charged, which he argued should match other government medical colleges in the North East. The High Court dismissed this second petition, leading to the present appeal before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that how the State government chooses to structure oversight of the medical college, through a hybrid society model with both government and independent members, is a matter of policy, and it would not be appropriate for courts exercising writ/appellate jurisdiction to direct the government to either take over the college entirely or hand it fully to the private sector. On the fee grievance, the Court held that any specific complaint about unreasonable fees should be raised before the State's own regulatory committee rather than decided by the Court without underlying material. Finding no merit in the challenge to the government's policy choices, the Court dismissed the appeal with no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

Courts generally will not second-guess a government's policy choices about how to structure and oversee an institution (such as choosing a hybrid society model over direct government control), and specific grievances like fee disputes should first go to the designated regulatory body rather than directly to a court.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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