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V.N. Public Health and Educational Trust v. State of Kerala and Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 117Decided 24 Feb 2021
Civil Appeal Nos. 703-704 of 2021
Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Justice B.R. Gavai · Justice Krishna Murari

Background

A charitable trust in Kerala had been trying since 2006 to set up a medical college, repeatedly seeking an "Essentiality Certificate" (EC) from the State Government and "Consent of Affiliation" (CoA) from Kerala University of Health Sciences. Over more than a decade it obtained certificates that were rejected for being in the wrong format, issued late, or outside the regulatory time schedule, leading to a long chain of writ petitions and appeals in the Kerala High Court. The Division Bench of the High Court had modified a Single Judge's order, limiting consideration of the trust's claim to the 2021-2022 academic year, and the trust appealed to the Supreme Court seeking EC/CoA for the 2020-2021 year as well.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that statutory time schedules for establishing new medical colleges (fixed by the Medical Council of India's regulations) must be strictly followed by everyone involved, and courts cannot direct authorities to issue certificates retroactively once those deadlines have lapsed. Since the window for the 2020-2021 academic year, and even the Covid-extended window for 2021-2022, had already closed by the time of the judgment, the Court found it could not direct the State or University to issue EC/CoA for 2020-2021, even notionally. The appeals were therefore dismissed, though the trust was given liberty to apply afresh, properly and on time, for a future academic year.

Lesson Learnt

Regulatory deadlines for setting up institutions like medical colleges are treated as mandatory, not mere formalities: courts will not retrospectively revive a missed academic year's application window, so applicants must get their paperwork right and submit it well within the prescribed time schedule.

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

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