Granting a reprieve to 108 medical students of the defunct Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Medical Science (PRIMS), the Madras High Court has directed the State government to submit a fresh proposal to the Board of Governors (BoG) in supersession of the Medical Council of India (MCI) enabling their intake in 22 government medical colleges.
Madras High Court
Chennai:
“The BoG in supersession of the MCI, on receipt of such a proposal, shall consider the said proposal on its merits and in accordance with the relevant rules and regulations of the Indian Medical Council Act and forward the same to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) within a further period of two weeks thereafter,” the bench said.
Also, directing the MoHFW to consider the same and pass appropriate orders within a further period of two weeks from the date of the receipt of the proposal from BoG, the bench said the decision taken in that regard by the ministry should be submitted in the court on March 28. The case pertains to the restriction placed on PRIMS taking fresh admissions after failing to provide infrastructure as per MCI norms. As a result, students of the 2016-17 batch, set to pursue the second year, were caught in a quandary.
Based on this, the students moved the high court, wherein a single judge through an interim order on October 24, 2018 had directed their deployment in the 22 government medical colleges in the State.
But in a communication to the MoHFW, the State expressed its inability to accommodate the students of PRIMS as seats were already filled up in government colleges. It was also pointed out that 12 self-financing medical colleges have recorded their willingness to accommodate the students. Notwithstanding this, however, the students moved an appeal
Senior Counsel P Wilson appearing for the students submitted that essentiality certificate is given by the State. “In the event of medical colleges failing to provide infrastructure as per MCI norms and fresh admissions are stopped by the Central government, then the State government shall take over the responsibility of the students already admitted in the college without permission of the Centre,” he contended.
That apart, the State government had also collected several crores of amount for granting such an essentiality certificate. As such, they (State government) are under moral as well as statutory obligation to accommodate the students in the second year by distributing them among all government medical colleges in the State and not stay the single judge’s order in this regard, Wilson submitted.
Passing interim orders on a batch of pleas moved by the aggrieved students, who have been left in the lurch, a division bench comprising Justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam directed the State to submit the fresh proposal within two weeks.
“The BoG in supersession of the MCI, on receipt of such a proposal, shall consider the said proposal on its merits and in accordance with the relevant rules and regulations of the Indian Medical Council Act and forward the same to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) within a further period of two weeks thereafter,” the bench said.
Also, directing the MoHFW to consider the same and pass appropriate orders within a further period of two weeks from the date of the receipt of the proposal from BoG, the bench said the decision taken in that regard by the ministry should be submitted in the court on March 28. The case pertains to the restriction placed on PRIMS taking fresh admissions after failing to provide infrastructure as per MCI norms. As a result, students of the 2016-17 batch, set to pursue the second year, were caught in a quandary.
Based on this, the students moved the high court, wherein a single judge through an interim order on October 24, 2018 had directed their deployment in the 22 government medical colleges in the State.
But in a communication to the MoHFW, the State expressed its inability to accommodate the students of PRIMS as seats were already filled up in government colleges. It was also pointed out that 12 self-financing medical colleges have recorded their willingness to accommodate the students. Notwithstanding this, however, the students moved an appeal
Senior Counsel P Wilson appearing for the students submitted that essentiality certificate is given by the State. “In the event of medical colleges failing to provide infrastructure as per MCI norms and fresh admissions are stopped by the Central government, then the State government shall take over the responsibility of the students already admitted in the college without permission of the Centre,” he contended.
That apart, the State government had also collected several crores of amount for granting such an essentiality certificate. As such, they (State government) are under moral as well as statutory obligation to accommodate the students in the second year by distributing them among all government medical colleges in the State and not stay the single judge’s order in this regard, Wilson submitted.