HC quashes transfer of RajaRajeswari Medical College Affiliation to Dr MGR University
Bengaluru: Directing the University Grants Commission (UGC) and Central Government to follow the mandate of the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2016, a division bench of the Karnataka High Court has recently upheld a decision of the single judge bench which had quashed the Centre's decision of transferring the city-based Rajarajeswari Medical College and Hospital (RRMCH) to the Chennai-based Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute.
The bench has given two months of time to UGC and the Central Government to arrive at a decision regarding the matter after duly considering the objections raised by the State Government.
The division bench comprising of Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anant Ramanath Hegde was considering the issue of legality regarding the transfer of affiliation of RRMCH from RGUHS to Dr MGR Education and Research Institute.
Medical Dialogues had reported back in 2019 that the Board of Governors in supersession of the Medical Council of India (MCI BoG) had given its nod to the change of affiliation of RRMCH from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) to Tamil Nadu based Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute (Deemed to be University).
In March 2019, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had issued a notification mentioning that after it obtained the application from the Tamil Nadu varsity, the UGC's Expert Committee consisting of a nominee of MCI scrutinized the application and placed before the Commission. The Commission considered and approved the recommendations of the Committee.
"RajaRajeswari Medical College and Hospital which is located in the city will become a constituent college of Dr. MGR institute from the academic year 2019-20."- the UGC notification read.
As RajaRajeswari Medical College is one of the top medical colleges running in the state of Karnataka, its shift from RGUHS to MGR Medical University had majorly hit Karnataka's medical education sector with a fall of 250 seats in the MBBS pool along with more than 100 PG medical seats.
However, this decision of the central Government had been opposed by the State Government and the State in January 2019 had written to the UGC opposing its opinion of transferring RRMCH to the University in Chennai.
While considering the matter, a single judge bench of Karnataka High Court had set aside the Union Government's order. The Court had also directed the Centre to restore the medical college to RGUHS, Bengaluru.
At that time, in the November 3, 2020 order, the court had also dismissed a petition filed by the city-based Moogambigai Charitable and Educational Trust, which was managing RRMCH, and had challenged the May 16, 2019 order of the State Government and the June 29 decision of RGUHS where the University didn't allow the disaffiliation from the State Health University, The Hindu had earlier reported.
As per the latest media report by The Hindu, when the matter came for consideration before the Division bench of the High Court, the court observed that UGC had violated the regulations which require mandatory consideration of the views of the State Government.
However, the division bench also opined that after quashing the transfer notification, the judge should not have dealt with other issues including the matter of whether the Moogambigai Trust and the MGR Trust are administered by separate managements or not.
Finally, upholding the order of the single bench which had quashed the decision of the Union Government's February 14, 2019 notification changing the affiliation of RRMCH to DR MGR Institute, the Division bench of the High Court has given UGC two months of time to decide the matter.
Both UGC and Centre have been directed to arrive at a decision after duly considering the objections submitted by the State Government.
