Medical College admits 100 MBBS students despite stay, Supreme Court imposes Rs 2.5 crore penalty
Mumbai: For ''overreaching'' its order and admitting 100 MBBS students despite a stay order, the Supreme Court has directed a Maharashtra-based medical college to deposit Rs 2.5 crore as penalty with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, in its order, said the medical college shall deposit Rs 2.5 crore with AIIMS and as a proof the receipt should be furnished to the petitioner, National Medical Commission (NMC), and the registry of the apex court. The top court told the college that it should not recover the penalty from the students.
The top court said this amount, which will be deposited in four weeks, will be used as per the discretion of the AIIMS director for the treatment of poor patients.
In a hearing last year, the court had likened Annasaheb Chudaman Patil Memorial Medical College to the movie 'Munna Bhai M.B.B.S' and noted that a surprise inspection by a National Medical Commission (NMC) team had found that all "hale and hearty" children were lying in the paediatric ward.
Also Read: Maharashtra Medical College Loses Recognition for MBBS seats, HC orders NMC Re-inspection
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Dhule-based Private medical college had faced a sudden tragedy as the NMC, the apex medical regulator had put it on the no-admission list after a surprise visit to the medical college.
Not only the Medical Assessment and Rating Board cancelled the recognition for the 50 new MBBS seats at Annasaheb Chudaman Patil Memorial Medical College, but it has also cancelled the institute's permission for 100 existing MBBS seats.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Aniruddha Bose, which had earlier likened the college to the movie 'Munna Bhai MBBS', said that it had earlier set aside the order of the Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court and had remanded the matter back but it again reaffirmed its earlier findings.
The bench had noted that the court is apprised of the fact that after the judgement dated March 4 of the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court, a notice of show cause has been issued on March 7, 2022, by the NMC.
On April 8 last year, the top court had taken serious note of the NMC inspection report and stayed the admission of 100 MBBS students till further orders.
The medical college had been directed to stop admission in pursuance of the deficiencies which were noticed during the course of inspection which was conducted on January 14 and 15, 2022, with immediate effect.
The bench said that the High court has accepted the inspection report of the NMC panel but allowed the students to continue, which will seriously prejudice their future down the line.
Advocate Gaurav Sharma, appearing for the NMC, said that for the academic year 2022-23, permission has been granted to the college for 100 MBBS seats after the inspection team found that it has rectified its deficiencies. However, in 2021-22, when the college was directed by this court not to enrol students, the institution continued with the process.
Senior advocate Nidesh Gupta, appearing for the medical college said that admission for 2021-22 had already been done by March and this court had passed the stay order on April 8.
The bench said that then the college should have brought this fact to the notice of this court by moving an application.
"This appears to be a clear overreach of our orders and hence a penalty needs to be imposed on the college. We will not disturb the admission of the students as it has an effect on their education," the bench said.
The top court had directed the NMC to get a fresh inspection of the college conducted by professor-rank officers within two months to see whether it complied with the norms or not.
Annasaheb Chudaman Patil Memorial Medical College, which is situated in Maharashtra's Dhule district, had earlier said that the inspection was carried out on the day of 'Makar Sankranti' and the officials who came to inspect were not from a random pool of the NMC.
The top court had then said, "Just understand where the medical education is going to go. You had healthy children in the paediatric ward, who were brought in without any ailments and by the evening they all went back to their homes. The nurses on January 14, had records from January 16 onwards what the blood pressure would be of patients and what other blood parameters would be. This is completely doctored data which was produced by the college."
It had noted that there were so-called patients who had registration numbers like 11111 and 66666 and all the patients were healthy.
The NMC had told the top court that permission for admission of additional students was cancelled as there were no operation theatre or X-RAY machines in the college besides other deficiencies.
"The court has due regard to the situation of 100 of the students if admission is to be disturbed but at the same time, sanctity of the orders of this court has to be maintained. The respondent (medical college) shall deposit Rs 2.5 crore with AIIMS and as a proof, (a) receipt be furnished to the petitioner, National Medical Commission, and the registry of this court," the bench said in its order, quotes PTI.
"The amount (will) be used by the AIIMS director at his discretion for treatment of poor patients," it added.
The top court warned the college that it should not recover the penalty amount from the students.
