The Madras High Court on Friday directed the State government to send a proposal to the Medical Council of India for transferring over 100 students of Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Medical Sciences (PRIMS) — a private institute lacking in infrastructure in Kancheepuram district — to the 22 government medical colleges in the State.
A Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and P. Rajamanickam ordered that the proposal should be sent within two weeks and thereafter the Board of Governors, acting in supersession of the MCI, should consider the proposal and forward their proposal to the Centre within a fortnight.
On receipt of MCI’s recommendations, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare should issue appropriate orders within two weeks and submit them in a sealed cover before the court on March 28.
The interim orders were passed on a writ appeal preferred by the State government. The appeal had challenged an order passed by Justice T. Raja, whereby the State was directed to accommodate all the students of PRIMS only in government colleges.
Senior counsel P. Wilson and R. Silambannan contended that the State government could not wriggle out from its responsibilityof admitting the students in government colleges especially when it had issued an ‘essentiality certificate’ to establish PRIMS after obtaining a bank guarantee for ₹11.5 crore.
“Under this certificate the State gives an undertaking to the Central government that it takes up entire responsibility of the students in case the private medical college gets closed for want of approval from MCI or for any other reason. Therefore, these students should get distributed only to the 22 government colleges in the State,” Mr. Wilson argued.