Central-government nursing norms do not apply to hospitals outside their specified scope.

The petitioner, a registered nurses’ union with a branch at Vishwanath Chest Hospital, challenged Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute’s (VPCI) nursing-cadre recruitment rules, approved on 15 November 2017 and implemented from 14 March 2019, and the March 2021 advertisement for Nursing Superintendent. VPCI had 128 beds. The petitioner argued that the rules conflicted with the Central Government hospitals’ nursing norms, which provide for a Nursing Superintendent in hospitals with 250 or more beds, and that requiring service as Deputy Nursing Superintendent for promotion was impracticable because VPCI had no such post. It also sought directions to fill the Assistant Nursing Superintendent post and increase nursing staff.

VPCI responded that the norms applied only to seven specified hospitals, not VPCI; that its rules were framed with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare approval; and that creation of a Deputy Nursing Superintendent post was under consideration.

Whether the Central Government hospitals’ nursing norms applied to VPCI and rendered its recruitment rules invalid

Whether VPCI could create a Nursing Superintendent post despite having fewer than 250 beds, and whether the absence of a Deputy Nursing Superintendent post invalidated the promotion structure

Whether the Court could direct VPCI to fill the Assistant Nursing Superintendent post or increase nursing staff

The nursing norms relied upon were framed for seven hospitals under the administrative control of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and did not, on their terms, extend to VPCI.

Clause 5.6 provides for a Nursing Superintendent in every hospital having 250 or more beds; it does not prohibit creation of such a post in a smaller hospital, which remains a policy and administrative decision based on institutional requirements.

Under Article 226, a court cannot direct the Government to create or sanction posts or formulate a particular regularisation policy; these matters fall within the Government’s prerogative, as recognised in Union of India v. Ilmo Devi, (2021) 20 SCC 290.

The Court found that the norms were expressly confined to seven named hospitals and that no provision extending them to VPCI had been identified; the Ministry had also stated that they were not extended to VPCI. The challenge to the recruitment rules therefore lacked its asserted foundation.

Further, clause 5.6 did not bar a Nursing Superintendent post at a hospital with fewer than 250 beds, leaving its creation to VPCI’s administrative judgment. The Deputy Nursing Superintendent post was being pursued for approval, and VPCI’s unrebutted position was that no serving staff member was eligible for promotion to Assistant Nursing Superintendent; the direct-recruitment advertisement was therefore not shown to be unlawful.

The Court could not order creation of posts or prescribe staffing levels, and the norms-based request for increased staffing consequently could not succeed.

The pending application was also disposed of.