Full Judgment Text
1
‘REPORTABLE’
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 3137 OF 2019
[@ SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION [C] NO. 2008 OF 2019]
PT. BATESWARI DAYAL MISHR SHIKSHA SAMITI
…..APPELLANT
VERSUS
Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council & Ors.
……RESPONDENTS
J U D G M E N T
Vineet Saran, J.
Leave granted.
Heard learned counsel for the appellant as well as Shri Rahul
2.
Kaushik, learned counsel for the respondent no. 1, Madhya Pradesh
Nurses Registration Council.
3. Appellant institution is a society which runs an institution by
the name of Dayal Nursing College, Gwalior. It is claimed by the
appellant institution that it is running the B.Sc (Nursing) course
since 2006, and also certain other courses like ANM, GNM and Post
Signature Not Verified
Digitally signed by
NIDHI AHUJA
Date: 2019.03.16
10:35:07 IST
Reason:
Basic B.Sc (Nursing) courses since 2008, 2010 and 2018
respectively. Since the appellant institution was not granted
2
recognition for running the B.Sc (Nursing) course for the academic
session 201819 and also recognition for starting of M.Sc (Nursing)
course, the appellant filed a Writ Petition No. 25716 of 2018, which
was disposed of on 13.11.2018 (along with a bunch of similar
petitions). Relying on a judgment of the Supreme Court in some
other earlier case, the Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High
Court at Jabalpur disposed of the writ petition (along with other
writ petitions) with the direction that the State Nurses Registration
Council (for short ‘SNRC’) shall hold an inspection as soon as
th
possible and decide the issue of recognition latest by 20 November,
2018, and in case the SNRC did not recognise the appellant
institution, considering that the last date of admission was then
th
declared to be 30 November, 2018, the appellant institution would
be allowed to hold classes for B.Sc (Nursing), as well as GNM
(Diploma Course) for the academic session 201819. Challenging
the said order, this appeal has been filed with the prayer to “direct
the Indian Nursing Council/State Nursing Council to grant recognition
to the petitioner institution for its courses for the academic session
201819”. The copy of the writ petition filed before the Madhya
Pradesh High Court has not been filed and thus we are unable to
know as to what prayers were made before the Madhya Pradesh
3
High Court [i.e. whether it was for grant of recognition for B.Sc
(Nursing) course or M.Sc (Nursing) course, or both]. We are also
unable to know as to what were the grounds taken by the appellant
institution before the High Court in support of its prayers.
The submission of the learned counsel for the appellant
4.
institution is that the institution has been running B.Sc (Nursing)
course since the year 2006 but because the SNRC did not conduct
the inspection, recognition for B.Sc (Nursing) course could not be
granted in favour of the appellant institution. It has been
contended that despite mandamus having been issued by the
Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court vide its order
dated 13.11.2018, yet no inspection was conducted; and that it was
only in pursuance of the order dated 05.03.2019 issued by this
Court in this appeal that an inspection was conducted by the SNRC
on 08.03.2019. In the said report, according to the appellant
institution, no deficiencies were pointed out with regard to the
faculty, laboratory, class rooms and other infrastructure facilities.
It has also been contended that the appellant institution has
consent of affiliation for the academic session 201819 granted by
the Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University, Jabalpur on
02.02.2019 for “the proposed new course of M.Sc. Nursing with
4
Subjects (1) – COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING – 10 Seats; (2) –
MENTAL HEALTH NURSING – 10 Seats”. It has thus been
submitted that the appellant institution be granted recognition for
B.Sc (Nursing) and M.Sc (Nursing) courses for the academic session
201819, which is to commence from 15.03.2019 as per the
extended date.
5. Per contra, Shri Rahul Kaushik, learned counsel appearing for
the respondent no. 1, Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council
has contended that the “Madhya Pradesh Nursing Shikshan
th
Sanstha Manyata Niyam 2018” was gazetted on 16 October, 2018
st
and the Rules came into force from 1 December, 2018. As per the
said Rules, the online application forms for academic session 2018
19 were to be submitted by the institutions, for existing courses,
th
seat enhancement and new courses, between 17 November, 2018
nd
and 22 December 2018. According to the respondent, the form
submitted by the appellant institution was incomplete, as it did not
give the faculty details, nor did it upload any supporting documents
along with the form. The appellant institution was thus not given
permission even for undergraduate courses for the academic
session 201819. It was further contended that the appellant
institution did not have its own Parent Hospital, which was
5
necessary as per the communication dated 16.04.2018 of the
Indian Nursing Council and as such, the case of the appellant
institution could not also be considered for M.Sc (Nursing) course.
It was contended that since the appellant did not have permission
even for B.Sc (Nursing) course before the initial last date of
admission, which was 31.12.2018, the question of considering the
appellant institution’s application for running M.Sc (Nursing)
course could not be considered. Learned counsel for the
respondent submitted that the appellant institution did not have its
own hospital but it claimed to be affiliated to Family Hospital,
Gwalior (50 beds) and SSIMS Hospital, Gwalior (95 beds) and
District Government Hospital, Gwalior (200 beds). However, there
was no permission for training in Government Hospitals granted by
the Director, Medical Education and as such the affiliation with the
said hospitals (which had granted no objection certificate to the
effect that such hospitals were affiliated to any other college) was of
no consequence. Learned counsel for the respondent thus
submitted that the prayer made in this appeal does not deserve to
be granted.
6. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have
perused the record.
6
7. Though it may be true that the appellant institution had been
granted affiliation for running B.Sc (Nursing) course since 2006,
but from the record it is clear that for the academic session 2018
19, there was no permission accorded by the Madhya Pradesh
Nurses Registration Council for running the B.Sc (Nursing) or M.Sc
(Nursing) courses. The prayer made in the appeal is not clear as to
whether the appellant institution is seeking permission for running
B.Sc (Nursing) course or M.Sc (Nursing) course. A copy of the writ
petition has also not been enclosed and as such it is not possible to
know as to what prayers had been made in the writ petition filed
before the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The same is not even clear
from the impugned judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court
dated 13.11.2018.
8. The specific case of the respondent no. 1 is that the appellant
institution had filed incomplete form for registration of the course
for academic session 201819, and that no documents to support
its claim had been filed. Further, the last date for filing the online
nd
form for registration for the academic session 201819 was 22
December, 2018. Admittedly the consent for affiliation by the
concerned University was given only on 02.02.2019 for running the
M.Sc (Nursing) course. As such, the said consent of the affiliation
7
was not even available with the appellant institution prior to the
last date of filing of the application form. Thus, the question of
granting permission to run the M.Sc (Nursing) course for the
academic session 201819 would not arise, as admittedly the form
filled by the appellant cannot be said to be complete, with all details
and supporting documents.
9. Even otherwise, in the communication of the Indian Nursing
Council dated 16.04.2018 to the Registrar of the respondent no. 1,
Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council, it was categorically
mentioned that “please ensure that for GNM & B.Sc (N) programme,
who have applied for this academic year has a Parent Hospital of
minimum 100 beds, whereas the institutions are exempted from
The institution
Parent Hospital located in tribal & hilly areas only”.
of the appellant is admittedly not in tribal or hilly areas, and it is
also not denied that it does not have its own Parent Hospital.
10. From the perusal of the inspection note dated 08.03.2019,
which was carried out by the respondent no. 1 in compliance of this
Court order dated 05.03.2019, it is clear that the renewal of the
appellant society and the papers relating to the land and building
were found to be complete and also that there were 48 faculty
8
members, but the complete online application form had not been
submitted and no renewal fees had been deposited and further, the
institution did not have recognition certificate for the academic
session 201819. In the said inspection report, in paragraph 6, it
has also been stated that the appellant institution did not have its
own hospital but was affiliated to certain hospitals, which hospitals
had only certified that they were not affiliated to any other
institution.
11. The crucial issue to be considered is whether the appellant
institution had applied to the respondent no. 1, Madhya Pradesh
nd
Nurses Registration Council within the last date, which was 22
December, 2018 or not, and if so applied, whether the same was
complete in all respects. The respondent no. 1 has categorically
stated that the online application form submitted by the appellant
was incomplete and no supporting documents were attached with
the same. The appellant has not filed any proof to show that it had
given all required particulars in the online application form. In the
absence of the copy of the writ petition having been filed before this
Court, it cannot be ascertained as to whether there was any such
averment made even in the writ petition. It has also not been
stated by the appellant institution that the requisite documents
9
were filed along with the application form (which is categorically
stated by the respondent no. 1 to be incomplete). The very fact that
the certificate of affiliation was issued in favour of the appellant
institution by the Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University,
Jabalpur, on 02.02.2019, which was much after the last date for
submission of the online application form, would make it clear that
the said document of affiliation was not even available with the
appellant institution at the time of filing of the online application
form.
12. In view of the aforesaid, we are of the firm view that the
judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court cannot be faulted and
there was no occasion for granting permission to the appellant
institution for running the M.Sc (Nursing) course for the academic
session 201819. The appeal is devoid of merit and is, accordingly,
dismissed.
………………………..J.
[R. F. Nariman]
………………….…….J.
[Vineet Saran]
New Delhi
15 March, 2019