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Maharishi Markandeshwar Medical College and Hospital & Others v. State of Himachal Pradesh & Others

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 417Decided 28 Apr 2017
Civil Appeal No. 5198 of 2017
Justice Dipak Misra · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar

Background

Maharishi Markandeshwar Medical College and Hospital, a constituent college of a private university (Maharishi Markandeshwar University, established under a 2010 Himachal Pradesh Act), challenged provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Private Medical Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2006, as amended, which required it to additionally take "affiliation" from Himachal Pradesh University. The Himachal Pradesh High Court had dismissed their writ petition and declined to hold that the college should be governed only by the 2010 University Act. The college and its university appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that compelling a constituent college of a private university to seek affiliation from an entirely different (government) university, Himachal Pradesh University, was irrational and unreasonable, since the 2010 Act creating the private university already governed the college's affiliation and the private university itself was statutorily barred from affiliating institutions beyond its own constituents. The Court struck down Section 3(6a) of the 2006 Act (as amended) as unconstitutional, violating Articles 14 and 19(1)(g), after considering and rejecting the possibility of merely "reading down" the provision. It set aside the High Court's judgment and allowed the appeal, directing the regulatory authorities to proceed without insisting on affiliation from Himachal Pradesh University.

Lesson Learnt

A state cannot impose a regulatory requirement on an institution that is legally impossible for it to fulfil (here, affiliation from a university with no power to grant it): such provisions can be struck down as arbitrary and unconstitutional.

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

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