Supreme Court slaps Rs 5 crore fine on private medical college

The Supreme Court on Friday slapped Rs 5 crore costs on a private medical college for admitting 50 additional students without any infrastructure and thereby playing with the lives of students.

Giving this ruling, a bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and N.V. Ramana said medical education must be taken very seriously and when an expert body certifies that the facilities in a medical college are inadequate, the courts are not equipped to take a different view in the matter except for very cogent jurisdictional reasons such as mala fides of the inspection team, ex facie perversity in the inspection report, jurisdictional error on the part of the MCI etc. The bench said under no circumstance should the high court examine the report as an appellate body — this is simply not the function of the high court.

First of all the career of a student is involved – what would a student do if his admission is found to be illegal or is quashed Is it not a huge waste of time for him or her Is it enough to say that the student will not claim any equity in his or her favour Is it enough for student to be told that his or her admission is subject to the outcome of a pending litigation These are all questions that arise and for which there is no easy answer. Generally speaking, it is better to err on the side of caution and deny admission to a student rather than have the sword of Damocles hanging over him or her. There would at least be some certainty.

Writing the judgment Justice Lokur said this appeal by Medical Council of India against High Court order allowing admission of 50 students is yet another chapter in the sordid saga of admissions to medical colleges. Undoubtedly, there is something rotten in the state of medical colleges. Unless the concerned Ministries in the Government of India take a far more proactive role in ensuring that medical colleges have all the necessary facilities, clinical materials, teaching faculty, staff, accommodation etc. the health of the people of our country will take a hit in the coming years due to inadequately educated doctors. Quality in medical education is equally important, if not more, than quantity.

The Bench however protected the interest of students saying that admission granted to the 50 students should not be disturbed. The bench imposed costs of Rs. 5 crores on KIMS for playing with the future of its students and the mess that it has created for them. The amount of Rs. 5 crores so deposited towards costs shall not be recovered in any manner from any student or adjusted against the fees or provision of facilities for students of any present or subsequent batches. Pointing out that there is no standard operating procedure for inspection of medical colleges, the Bench asked the MCI to put in place the SOP in six weeks.