Pt. Bateswari Dayal Mishr Shiksha Samiti vs M.P. Nurses Registration Council

‘REPORTABLE’ IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 3137 OF 2019 [@ SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION [C] NO. 2008 OF 2019]

PT. BATESWARI DAYAL MISHR SHIKSHA SAMITI …..APPELLANT VERSUS

Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council & Ors. ……RESPONDENTS

JUDGMENT

Vineet Saran, J.

Leave granted.

2. Heard learned counsel for the appellant as well as Shri Rahul

Kaushik, learned counsel for the respondent no. 1, Madhya Pradesh

Nurses Registration Council.

3. Appellant institution is a society which runs an institution by

the name of Dayal Nursing College, Gwalior. It is claimed by the

appellant institution that it is running the B.Sc (Nursing) course

since 2006, and also certain other courses like ANM, GNM and Post Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by NIDHI AHUJA

Basic Date: 2019.03.16 10:35:07 IST Reason: B.Sc (Nursing) courses since 2008, 2010 and 2018

respectively. Since the appellant institution was not granted 2

recognition for running the B.Sc (Nursing) course for the academic

session 2018­19 and also recognition for starting of M.Sc (Nursing)

course, the appellant filed a Writ Petition No. 25716 of 2018, which

was disposed of on 13.11.2018 (along with a bunch of similar

petitions). Relying on a judgment of the Supreme Court in some

other earlier case, the Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High

Court at Jabalpur disposed of the writ petition (along with other

writ petitions) with the direction that the State Nurses Registration

Council (for short ‘SNRC’) shall hold an inspection as soon as

possible and decide the issue of recognition latest by 20 th November,

2018, and in case the SNRC did not recognise the appellant

institution, considering that the last date of admission was then

declared to be 30th November, 2018, the appellant institution would

be allowed to hold classes for B.Sc (Nursing), as well as GNM

(Diploma Course) for the academic session 2018­19. Challenging

the said order, this appeal has been filed with the prayer to “direct

the Indian Nursing Council/State Nursing Council to grant recognition

to the petitioner institution for its courses for the academic session

2018­19”. The copy of the writ petition filed before the Madhya

Pradesh High Court has not been filed and thus we are unable to

know as to what prayers were made before the Madhya Pradesh 3

High Court [i.e. whether it was for grant of recognition for B.Sc

(Nursing) course or M.Sc (Nursing) course, or both]. We are also

unable to know as to what were the grounds taken by the appellant

institution before the High Court in support of its prayers.

4. The submission of the learned counsel for the appellant

institution is that the institution has been running B.Sc (Nursing)

course since the year 2006 but because the SNRC did not conduct

the inspection, recognition for B.Sc (Nursing) course could not be

granted in favour of the appellant institution. It has been

contended that despite mandamus having been issued by the

Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court vide its order

dated 13.11.2018, yet no inspection was conducted; and that it was

only in pursuance of the order dated 05.03.2019 issued by this

Court in this appeal that an inspection was conducted by the SNRC

on 08.03.2019. In the said report, according to the appellant

institution, no deficiencies were pointed out with regard to the

faculty, laboratory, class rooms and other infrastructure facilities.

It has also been contended that the appellant institution has

consent of affiliation for the academic session 2018­19 granted by

the Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University, Jabalpur on

02.02.2019 for “the proposed new course of M.Sc. Nursing with 4

Subjects (1) – COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING – 10 Seats; (2) –

MENTAL HEALTH NURSING – 10 Seats”. It has thus been

submitted that the appellant institution be granted recognition for

B.Sc (Nursing) and M.Sc (Nursing) courses for the academic session

2018­19, which is to commence from 15.03.2019 as per the

extended date.

5. Per contra, Shri Rahul Kaushik, learned counsel appearing for

the respondent no. 1, Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council

has contended that the “Madhya Pradesh Nursing Shikshan

Sanstha Manyata Niyam 2018” was gazetted on 16th October, 2018

and the Rules came into force from 1st December, 2018. As per the

said Rules, the online application forms for academic session 2018­

19 were to be submitted by the institutions, for existing courses,

seat enhancement and new courses, between 17 th November, 2018

and 22nd December 2018. According to the respondent, the form

submitted by the appellant institution was incomplete, as it did not

give the faculty details, nor did it upload any supporting documents

along with the form. The appellant institution was thus not given

permission even for under­graduate courses for the academic

session 2018­19. It was further contended that the appellant

institution did not have its own Parent Hospital, which was 5

necessary as per the communication dated 16.04.2018 of the

Indian Nursing Council and as such, the case of the appellant

institution could not also be considered for M.Sc (Nursing) course.

It was contended that since the appellant did not have permission

even for B.Sc (Nursing) course before the initial last date of

admission, which was 31.12.2018, the question of considering the

appellant institution’s application for running M.Sc (Nursing)

course could not be considered. Learned counsel for the

respondent submitted that the appellant institution did not have its

own hospital but it claimed to be affiliated to Family Hospital,

Gwalior (50 beds) and SSIMS Hospital, Gwalior (95 beds) and

District Government Hospital, Gwalior (200 beds). However, there

was no permission for training in Government Hospitals granted by

the Director, Medical Education and as such the affiliation with the

said hospitals (which had granted no objection certificate to the

effect that such hospitals were affiliated to any other college) was of

no consequence. Learned counsel for the respondent thus

submitted that the prayer made in this appeal does not deserve to

be granted.

6. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have

perused the record.

6

7. Though it may be true that the appellant institution had been

granted affiliation for running B.Sc (Nursing) course since 2006,

but from the record it is clear that for the academic session 2018­

19, there was no permission accorded by the Madhya Pradesh

Nurses Registration Council for running the B.Sc (Nursing) or M.Sc

(Nursing) courses. The prayer made in the appeal is not clear as to

whether the appellant institution is seeking permission for running

B.Sc (Nursing) course or M.Sc (Nursing) course. A copy of the writ

petition has also not been enclosed and as such it is not possible to

know as to what prayers had been made in the writ petition filed

before the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The same is not even clear

from the impugned judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court

dated 13.11.2018.

8. The specific case of the respondent no. 1 is that the appellant

institution had filed incomplete form for registration of the course

for academic session 2018­19, and that no documents to support

its claim had been filed. Further, the last date for filing the online

form for registration for the academic session 2018­19 was 22 nd

December, 2018. Admittedly the consent for affiliation by the

concerned University was given only on 02.02.2019 for running the

M.Sc (Nursing) course. As such, the said consent of the affiliation 7

was not even available with the appellant institution prior to the

last date of filing of the application form. Thus, the question of

granting permission to run the M.Sc (Nursing) course for the

academic session 2018­19 would not arise, as admittedly the form

filled by the appellant cannot be said to be complete, with all details

and supporting documents.

9. Even otherwise, in the communication of the Indian Nursing

Council dated 16.04.2018 to the Registrar of the respondent no. 1,

Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council, it was categorically

mentioned that “please ensure that for GNM & B.Sc (N) programme,

who have applied for this academic year has a Parent Hospital of

minimum 100 beds, whereas the institutions are exempted from

Parent Hospital located in tribal & hilly areas only”. The institution

of the appellant is admittedly not in tribal or hilly areas, and it is

also not denied that it does not have its own Parent Hospital.

10. From the perusal of the inspection note dated 08.03.2019,

which was carried out by the respondent no. 1 in compliance of this

Court order dated 05.03.2019, it is clear that the renewal of the

appellant society and the papers relating to the land and building

were found to be complete and also that there were 48 faculty 8

members, but the complete online application form had not been

submitted and no renewal fees had been deposited and further, the

institution did not have recognition certificate for the academic

session 2018­19. In the said inspection report, in paragraph 6, it

has also been stated that the appellant institution did not have its

own hospital but was affiliated to certain hospitals, which hospitals

had only certified that they were not affiliated to any other

institution.

11. The crucial issue to be considered is whether the appellant

institution had applied to the respondent no. 1, Madhya Pradesh

Nurses Registration Council within the last date, which was 22 nd

December, 2018 or not, and if so applied, whether the same was

complete in all respects. The respondent no. 1 has categorically

stated that the online application form submitted by the appellant

was incomplete and no supporting documents were attached with

the same. The appellant has not filed any proof to show that it had

given all required particulars in the online application form. In the

absence of the copy of the writ petition having been filed before this

Court, it cannot be ascertained as to whether there was any such

averment made even in the writ petition. It has also not been

stated by the appellant institution that the requisite documents 9

were filed along with the application form (which is categorically

stated by the respondent no. 1 to be incomplete). The very fact that

the certificate of affiliation was issued in favour of the appellant

institution by the Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University,

Jabalpur, on 02.02.2019, which was much after the last date for

submission of the online application form, would make it clear that

the said document of affiliation was not even available with the

appellant institution at the time of filing of the online application

form.

12. In view of the aforesaid, we are of the firm view that the

judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court cannot be faulted and

there was no occasion for granting permission to the appellant

institution for running the M.Sc (Nursing) course for the academic

session 2018­19. The appeal is devoid of merit and is, accordingly,

dismissed.

………………………..J. [R. F. Nariman]

………………….…….J. [Vineet Saran] New Delhi 15 March, 2019