'Students not to be left in lurch between fights'- Supreme Court seeks solution in CPS derecognition row
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: While considering the issue of medical courses offered by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS), Mumbai, the Supreme Court today i.e., on September 12, requested the intervention of the Attorney General for India, R Venkataramani, to arrive at a viable solution to secure the future of the CPS students after the Bombay High Court recently upheld the derecognition of these courses.
The Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) derecognised all the courses offered by CPS on August 16, 2024, on the grounds of failure to comply with the regulatory mechanism under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019. The show-cause notice stated that the CPS, Mumbai considers itself an examination-like body National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) having authority to give medical qualification. However, it pointed out that while National Board is a government organisation under the NMC Act, CPS is a non-government organisation having no authority to permit or recognise any course of qualification run by any hospital or to conduct examination or award degree.
Medical Dialogues had previously reported that earlier this year, the Bombay High Court dismissed the plea filed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) challenging the derecognition of many postgraduate diploma courses that were deleted from the schedule of the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), 1965.
On the same day, the High Court bench had allowed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging permission given to CPS to conduct 10 additional PG courses. The PIL was filed before the High Court by a Mumbai-based doctor, Suhas Pingle.
Also Read: Supreme Court Likely to Hear CPS Derecognition Issue on August 29
In the order, the HC bench had also mentioned that the decision taken by the NMC Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) in its July and August 2024 meetings also warranted no interference since it was founded in the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations (MSMER-2023) "to ensure higher standards of medical education across the country".
However, the bench had mentioned that if CPS were compliant with regulatory norms for maintaining standards in medical education, on ensuring compliance with permission sought under NMC Act, 2019, it may be able to start the courses, in the prescribed manner.
Challenging the HC order, CPS filed a plea before the Supreme Court. As per the latest media report by Live law, before the Apex Court bench comprising Justice KV Viswanathan, Senior Advocates Vikas Singh and Sanjay R Hegde submitted that the future of hundreds of students admitted into the course offered by the CPS is currently at stake. He further added, that the students have been left in limbo as they were awaiting to appear in the examination. Therefore, Advocate Singh urged the Court to allow the conduct of the examination, subject to the outcome of the decision.
On the other hand, the original PIL petitioner, also a former President of the Maharashtra Medical Council, submitted that he had found that the CPS courses were illegal and no proper permission was sought for them, and the High Court had also allowed his PIL.
Meanwhile, the counsel appearing for NMC highlighted that the CPS course was discontinued in 2009, but it was again started for a few colleges in 2009. However, the counsel pointed out that CPS committed a mischief by allowing government hospitals to conduct the course despite the NMC continuously denotifying it.
The Attorney General for India, R Venkataramani, submitted before the top court bench that he would explore the possibilities of regularising it to the extent that the exams can be smoothly conducted.
"Today, the only question is whether students always enrolled, their fate has to be taken into consideration without going into the larger questions. We had a discussion, if we are going in that direction, give me about two to three weeks to find out the best modality so that we don't skip again... It's a question of holding exam in a proper way," stated the AG.
Taking note of the submission, the Supreme Court bench ordered,
"Due to a paucity of time, we are unable to start with the hearing of the matter. We are conscious that this litigant has something to do with the future of hundreds of students. Today, the only concern is about the examination to be conducted by the examining body, namely, the College of Physicians and Surgeon CPS House. We request the learned Attorney General to intervene and assist this Court in this litigation. Learned Attorney General would submit that he could speak to the authorities concerned and try to work out the modalities so as to protect the interests of students already admitted and awaiting conduct of examination. Learned Attorney General requested for three weeks time to come back with some arrangement by which the interest of the students can be protected. We have yet to hear the matter own its own merits, we are yet to look into the impugned judgments however, our first endevaour is to see that students are not left in the lurch between the fights. We requested learned Attorney General to work out something and come to us. By any chance, any viable solution is not brought into account, we will proceed to hear the entire matter on its own merits."
The matter has been listed for further hearing on October 8.
Background:
Medical Dialogues has been reporting about the controversies concerning over 100-year-old CPS Mumbai, which is an autonomous body that imparts Postgraduate medical education and offers fellowship, diploma, and certificate courses for medical professionals.
The controversy started when citing significant gaps in the standards or institutes offering CPS courses, the Medical Education Department of Maharashtra previously wrote to the Union Health Ministry asking for its opinion on whether counselling could be conducted for around 1,100 CPS seats.
Back then, writing to the Centre, the department had referred to the inspection of the Maharashtra Medical Council and how during the inspection, MMC had found "severe deficiencies" in several institutes. Consequently, the Central Government had set up an eight-member committee to look into the matter.
The controversy continued further, and then the Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of NMC recommended to the Union Health Ministry to withdraw the popular DPB- Diploma in Pathology and Bacteriology, DCH - Diploma in Child Health and DGO- Diploma Gynecology and Obstetrics courses run by CPS from the next academic year.
After NMC, the National Board of Examinations (NBE) also offered rejection to the CPS courses by refusing to bring them under the aegis of the NBE. Moreover, States including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Karnataka were reportedly considering decreasing the intake for the CPS courses or discontinuing them.
Back in 2023, the Maharashtra Government de-recognised the courses offered by CPS and asked the medical institutes and hospitals not to admit students for any of the 26 diplomas or fellowships offered by CPS, Mumbai. Ultimately, the matter reached the High Court.
Filing a plea, the CPS sought permission from the HC to admit students in the 2024-2025 academic year. Meanwhile, filing a PIL, Dr. Pingle, a former member of MMC, challenged the validity of section 28(2) of the MMC Act, which empowers the council to recognise the courses that don't form a part of the NMC Act.
Earlier this year, the HC bench dismissed the plea by CPS and allowed Dr. Pingle's plea. However, it left the issue of challenging the validity of section 28(2) of the MMC Act open to be assailed in other appropriate proceedings.
The CPS controversy was also raised before the Parliament earlier this year. When asked about the disparity in the recognition of the postgraduate medical qualifications offered by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) across different States/UTs, the Union Minister of State for Health, Smt. Anupriya Patel informed the Parliament that any University or medical institute granting a UG, PG, or Super Speciality medical qualification not included in the NMC list may apply to the National Medical Commission (NMC) before the commencement of the course.
The Minister further acknowledged the disparity in the recognition of CPS courses depending on the States/UTs and pointed out that some states recognized qualifications of CPS based on the statutory provisions of the concerned State legislation.
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