Supreme Court Issues Notice to 107 Nursing Colleges in Rajasthan

The Rajasthan government filed a special leave petition against the orders of the Single Bench and Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court, which had struck down key conditions of the State's Nursing Education Policy. During the plea hearing, a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Joymala Bagchi noted the arguments and issued notices to 107 nursing colleges in Rajasthan and the INC.

According to a Times of India media report, Additional Advocate General Shiv Mangal Sharma, appearing for the state government, said Rajasthan has witnessed unchecked growth of nursing colleges which operate merely from flats and buildings with no real infrastructure or commitment to quality education.

Mr. Sharma argued that in the larger public interest, a policy was introduced on June 7, 2022, mandating that any institution wishing to set up a nursing college must own and operate a 100-bed hospital. This was kept as the minimum threshold to ensure credibility and quality of nursing education.

On November 4, 2022, a single bench struck down the state government's policy that mandated a nursing institute to have a 100-bed hospital. To this, Sharma said, "We challenged it in the division bench, which also dismissed our appeal on March 1, 2024. Thus, we approached the Supreme Court on April 12, 2024, and in its first hearing on Thursday, the Supreme Court issued notices."

Mr Sharma further argued that, "The increasing number of substandard institutions directly threatens the public healthcare system by producing inadequately trained professionals”.

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