Paramedical Council Must Register Petitioners with University-Awarded Degrees and Issue Practice Certificates.

The petitioners, graduates in B. Opto. from Shri Rawatpura Sarkar University, sought employment as paramedical staff but were prevented from participating in the selection process because they lacked active registration with the Chhattisgarh Paramedical Council and were not entered in its State register.

They alleged that the Council had refused to register them and sought directions for registration and certificates of practice.

The respondents submitted that the University was established under the Chhattisgarh Private Universities Act, 2005, and was empowered to award degrees under the University Grants Commission Act, 1956.

Whether the Chhattisgarh Paramedical Council should be directed to register the petitioners, who held degrees awarded by Shri Rawatpura Sarkar University.

Whether the Council should issue the petitioners certificates of practice.

Section 23 of the Chhattisgarh Sah Chikitsa Parishad Act, 2001 empowers the Council to maintain the State Register of Paramedical Practitioners and perform related regulatory functions.

Section 24 provides that a qualification from a paramedical institution established, or offering a new or higher course, without the State Government’s prior permission is not a recognised qualification for the purposes of the Act.

Section 40 permits the Council to prohibit entry in, or order removal from, the State Register on specified grounds, including a relevant criminal conviction or a finding of infamous professional conduct, after giving the person a reasonable opportunity to be heard.

The Court also referred to Section 22(1) of the UGC Act, 1956, as the basis on which the University had awarded the petitioners’ degrees.

The Court treated the University’s authority to award degrees under Section 22(1) of the UGC Act and the Council’s responsibility for maintaining the paramedical register as sufficient grounds to direct registration.

Although the Court set out Section 24, it did not separately determine whether the petitioners’ course or institution had the State Government permission required by that provision.

Instead, it ordered registration and issuance of practice certificates, while preserving the Council’s power under Section 40 to prohibit the entries if it found that the petitioners had obtained their degrees unfairly.

The Council may prohibit their entries under Section 40 of the 2001 Act if it finds that their degrees were obtained unfairly.