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Krishna Mohan Medical College and Hospital v. Union of India

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2017 INSC 845Decided 1 Sept 2017
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 448 of 2017
Chief Justice Dipak Misra · Justice Amitava Roy · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar

Background

Krishna Mohan Medical College in Mathura applied for a letter of permission to establish a new medical college. After an MCI inspection found deficiencies, the Central Government debarred it from admitting students for 2017-18 and 2018-19 and ordered encashment of its Rs. 2 crore bank guarantee. The Supreme Court had earlier annulled that order and remanded the matter for fresh, reasoned consideration, but the Government's subsequent order dated 10.8.2017 again rejected the college, prompting this second round of litigation before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Court found that despite its clear earlier direction, the respondents had failed to fairly and thoroughly re-examine the materials on record, including favourable observations by the Oversight Committee and the Director General of Health Services that contradicted the MCI's deficiency findings: a breach of the fundamental duty to ensure a fair hearing before taking action with serious civil consequences. Balancing all the material, the Court held the college's conditional letter of permission for the 2016-17 academic year deserved to be confirmed, and ordered the bank guarantee not be encashed. However, it declined to direct that the college be allowed to admit students for 2017-18, and instead ordered a fresh MCI inspection be conducted for the 2018-19 academic year, with the report to be placed before the Court within eight weeks, after which the writ petition would be listed again to review compliance.

Lesson Learnt

When a government regulator is given a clear court direction to fairly reconsider a decision, mechanically repeating the earlier rejection without genuinely engaging with favourable evidence amounts to a denial of fair hearing, and a court can step in to confirm the institution's existing rights (like its prior year's permission) even while still requiring fresh scrutiny before any future expansion.

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

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