Bombay HC refuses to stay Show-Cause notice issued to CPS Mumbai over admissions row

Mumbai: Clarifying that the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) needs to show that the courses are working as planned, the Bombay High Court bench on Tuesday declined to interfere with the show cause notice issued to the institute by the Secretary of Maharashtra Medical Education Department, Ashwini Joshi.

Apart from this, the HC bench has also asked CPS to set up proper infrastructure and ensure the availability of faculty members, as per the state government norms, in order to admit students for postgraduate medical courses.

CPS had challenged the March 14 notice issued by the department, which had alleged deficiencies in the colleges offering PG diploma courses run by CPS, Mumbai.

However, denying to stay the said notice, the HC bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale observed, "One thing we are not inclined to do is stay the show cause notice...This will lead to all kinds of quacks. You have to show your courses are WAP (working as planned)."

Previously, the HC bench had directed the State to provide all documents to CPS so that it can answer the show-cause notice issued by the Medical Education Department of the State.

Established in 1912, CPS Mumbai is an autonomous body that imparts Postgraduate medical education and offers fellowship, diploma, and certificate courses for medical professionals. For the Diploma courses, the tenure is two years; in case of Fellowship, the tenure is three years. After obtaining the qualification granted by CPS Mumbai, the practitioners become allowed to register themselves as specialists in the concerned specialty.

The controversy regarding CPS admissions in Maharashtra commenced after referring to significant gaps in the standards of institutes offering College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) affiliated courses, the medical education department of Maharashtra recently wrote to the Union Health Ministry asking for its opinion on whether counselling can be conducted for around 1,100 CPS seats.

Also Read: CPS Admissions Row: HC directs state to provide all documents to Institute for show-cause reply

Writing to the Centre, the department referred to the inspection of the Maharashtra Medical Council conducted last year and how during the inspection, MMC had found "severe deficiencies" in several institutes.

Recently Union Minister Nitin Gadkari supported the Association of CPS Affiliated Institutes and writing to the State Secretary, Gadkari pointed out that in case of any further delays in the admission process of 2022, the association has expressed fear that the State could lose altogether 1,100 CPS seats.

However, the State Medical Education Department did not change its decision and sent a show-cause notice to the CPS management and demanded an explanation regarding the deficiencies found in its affiliated institutes by March 21. Meanwhile, CPS approached the Bombay HC bench and filed a plea in this regard seeking to restart the admission process.

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the counsel for CPS, Senior advocate Ravi Kadam argued that the notice had been issued on the basis of the administrator's report and not Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), whose term had ended. While he contended that two Central committees had endorsed the courses and that Joshi's "mind is made up", the HC bench observed that Joshi's correspondence appears to be "strongly worded but we see no bias.."

Further, the bench clarified that the Government seeks information regarding every CPS PG Diploma course including the name of the private institute qualifications of teachers and if there are any existing facilities to impart training including practicals.

Questioning the resistance on the part of CPS to reply to the show-cause notice, the bench further noted, "Obviously the endeavour is to see that it is not a small hole in the wall establishment that is offering courses and merely conferring degrees without education..."

Responding to the observation, the counsel for CPS submitted that the courses run by CPS are in the schedule from the 60s. However, at this outset, the bench opined that it is mandatory for CPS to know who is running its courses and if it has the wherewithal to do so.

"What is being lost sight of here is not the interest of CPS. It is the interest of students taking or being offered CPS courses,'' observed the bench, adding that "surely the least one can expect" from Joshi, MMC and CPS "is that the standard of medical education be maintained as high as possible."

Meanwhile, Advocate Kadam for CPS referred to the fact that despite directions from the Centre, the counselling has not commenced.

On the other hand, the counsel for the State, Senior Advocate Milind Sathe pointed out that CPS is a society and submitted, "120 institutions are run by private doctors and that is why we have to check if they (institutions) have the necessary infrastructure. None of them is a recognised teaching college.''

The State counsel further informed the bench that four show-cause notices, signed by Medical Education Department Secretary Ashwini Joshi, has been issued to CPS. Even though CPS attended the first hearing, it later approached the HC bench before the second hearing and challenged the show-cause notice, adds Hindustan Times.

Meanwhile, the CPS counsel claimed that the medical education department had sought a long list of documents and some of them were not necessary.

Declining to stay the show-cause notice, the HC bench clarified that the primary concern is CPS is running the medical courses without studies and "it is those who are enrolled who are going to be directly, immediately and adversely affected."

"What is the purpose? Nothing is achieved. It is one thing to stay a derecognition but at the stage of show cause, it is an incredible jump to virtually reinstate the courses," the bench observed.

After considering the matter and taking note of the submissions made by both the sides, the HC bench has now asked CPS for attending the next hearing and present the documents sought by the department.

Also Read: HC upholds recognised qualification of 3 CPS Diploma Holders, allows them to appear for DNB PDCET