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The Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Department of AYUSH v. A.T.S.V.S. Siddha Medical College & Hospital and Anr.

Miscellaneous Application · 2019 INSC 165Decided 8 Feb 2019
Miscellaneous Application Nos. 2867-2868 of 2018 in Civil Appeal Nos. 10023-10024 of 2018
Justice L. Nageswara Rao · Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul

Background

A Siddha medical college, sanctioned to admit only 40 students, admitted 58 students in 2015-16 and 39 students in 2016-17 (exceeding its approved intake) based on interim High Court orders, after the Madras High Court directed the Union to approve these admissions and let students take exams. The Supreme Court had earlier (27 September 2018) allowed the students to take exams and have results declared, but made this conditional on an inspection by the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) verifying the college's infrastructure. After CCIM inspected the college in November 2018, the Union government refused permission for the earlier years on the technical ground that infrastructure for 2015-16 and 2016-17 could not be assessed by a 2018 inspection, prompting the college to approach the Court again through this miscellaneous application.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found the Union's refusal to be a direct violation of its own September 2018 order, which had clearly intended the CCIM inspection to serve as the basis for permitting the excess-admitted students to continue, not to be used as a technical excuse to deny them altogether. Examining the inspection report itself, the Court found no serious deficiencies in the college's facilities, and therefore directed that admissions of the 18 excess students (2015-16) and 39 excess students (2016-17) be approved, allowing them to take their examinations and have results declared. The Court disapproved of the college's own conduct in admitting students without permission and obstructing inspection, left the Union free to take appropriate action if the college failed to meet regulatory requirements going forward, and expressly clarified that this order was passed on the peculiar facts of the case and should not be treated as a precedent.

Lesson Learnt

When a court conditions relief on an administrative inspection or verification process, the authority conducting that process cannot use technical or after-the-fact objections to defeat the substance of the court's direction, doing so risks being treated as a violation of the court's order; the ruling also shows courts can protect students' academic interests even while disapproving of an institution's own non-compliant conduct.

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

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