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Kanachur Islamic Education Trust (R) v. Union of India and Another

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2017 INSC 824Decided 30 Aug 2017
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 468 of 2017
Chief Justice Dipak Misra · Justice Amitava Roy · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar

Background

The petitioner's medical college in Mangalore had its letter of permission (LOP) withdrawn by the Union Government, which also authorized encashment of its Rs. 2 crore bank guarantee, barring it from admitting MBBS students for 2017-18 and 2018-19. An earlier round of litigation had already set aside a similar order and directed the Central Government to re-examine the matter afresh, with a proper hearing, considering the views of the Medical Council of India, the Director General of Health Services and the Court-appointed Oversight Committee, but the Government, after this fresh round, reiterated the same decision to debar the college.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the Hearing Committee and Central Government had again failed to conduct a fair, objective and rational re-examination as directed, ignoring the college's detailed explanations and the more favourable observations of the Oversight Committee and DGHS, and thereby violated the statutory right to a reasonable opportunity of hearing under the proviso to Section 10A(4) of the Indian Medical Council Act. Finding that the alleged deficiencies were not persuasively established and that the decision-making process was repeatedly flawed, the Court set aside the impugned order, confirmed the college's LOP for 2016-17, and further held the college entitled to LOP for 2017-18 as well, extending the admission counselling deadline to 5 September 2017, while permitting future inspections by the Central Government/MCI as warranted.

Lesson Learnt

When a government authority repeatedly fails to give a fair, reasoned hearing and ignores favourable material on record despite an explicit court directive to reconsider properly, courts will step in to protect the substantive right (here, the right to operate an approved institution) rather than allow procedural non-compliance to cause irreversible harm.

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

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