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Medical Council of India v. Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 4914 of 2016)Decided 6 May 2016
Civil Appeal No. 4914 of 2016
Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice N.V. Ramana

Background

KIMS, a medical college entitled to admit 100 MBBS students a year, wanted to add 50 more seats for 2015-16. A Medical Council of India (MCI) inspection found serious deficiencies, so the Central Government refused permission. KIMS went to the Orissa High Court, which eventually directed the Central Government to grant provisional permission, and KIMS admitted the 50 extra students subject to the outcome of the litigation. MCI appealed to the Supreme Court against the High Court's orders.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had exceeded its writ jurisdiction by re-examining, almost as an appellate body, the factual findings of MCI's expert Inspection Team (composed of neutral, randomly-selected senior medical professors). Courts should not disturb such expert inspection reports absent mala fides, perversity, or jurisdictional error, none of which was shown here. The Court set aside the High Court's orders but, since the 50 students had already been admitted and studied for months, allowed their admissions to stand so their careers were not destroyed by KIMS's litigation strategy. It imposed Rs. 5 crore costs on KIMS (not recoverable from students or fees) and barred KIMS from increasing intake beyond 100 seats for 2016-17 and 2017-18. It also directed MCI to frame a standardised inspection procedure and to publish inspection reports for transparency.

Lesson Learnt

Courts will not second-guess a neutral expert inspection body's technical findings on facilities in professional institutions, and an institution that admits students in defiance of a clear government directive, hoping litigation will bail it out, risks heavy costs even if the students themselves are protected.

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

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