PT. BATESWARI DAYAL MISHR SHIKSHA versus MADHYA PRADESH NURSES REGISTRATION COUNCIL & ORS. on 15 March 2019

[2019] 2 S.C.R. 1017

PT. BATESWARI DAYAL MISHR SHIKSHA SAMITI

v.

MADHYA PRADESH NURSES REGISTRATION COUNCIL &ORS.

(Civil Appeal No. 3137 of 2019)

MARCH 15, 2019

[R. F. NARIMAN AND VINEET SARAN, JJ.]

Education/Educational institutions:

Medical institutions – B.Sc (Nursing) Course and M.Sc(Nursing) Course – Grant of recognition – On facts, appellantinstitution running nursing college filed writ petition seeking grantof recognition for running B.Sc (Nursing) Course and M.Sc(Nursing) Course for the academic session 2018-19 – Disposal of,by the High Court – Issuance of direction to the State NursesRegistration Council to hold inspection and decide the issue ofrecognition by 20.11.2018 and in case of non-grant of recognition,last date of admission being 30.11.18, appellant institution beallowed to hold classes for B.Sc as well as GNM (Course) for theacademic session 2018-2019 – Appeal before this Court seekingdirection to the Nursing Council to grant recognition to the appellantinstitution – Held: Though the appellant institution had been grantedaffiliation for running B.Sc (Nursing) course since 2006, but forthe academic session 2018-19, no permission was accorded by theNurses Registration Council for running the B.Sc (Nursing) or M.Sc(Nursing) courses – From the prayer made in the appeal, it is notclear as to whether the appellant institution is seeking permissionfor running B.Sc (Nursing) course or M.Sc (Nursing) course – Copyof the writ petition not enclosed, as such it was not possible toascertain as to what prayers had been made in the writ petitionfiled before the High Court – Also same not clear from the impugnedjudgment of the High Court – Furthermore, appellant institutionfiled incomplete form for registration of the course for academicsession 2018-19, and no supporting documents were attached –Consent of the affiliation was not available with the appellantinstitution prior to the last date of filing of the application form –

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1018 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2019] 2 S.C.R.

AInstitution is not in tribal or hilly areas, and it does not have its ownParent Hospital - Thus, grant of permission to run the M.Sc (Nursing)course for the academic session 2018-19 would not arise Dismissing the appeal, the Court HELD: 1.1 Though it may be true that the appellantBinstitution had been granted affiliation for running B.Sc (Nursing)course since 2006, but from the record it is clear that for theacademic session 2018-19, there was no permission accorded bythe Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council for runningthe B.Sc (Nursing) or M.Sc (Nursing) courses. The prayer madeCin the appeal is not clear as to whether the appellant institution isseeking permission for running B.Sc (Nursing) course or M.Sc(Nursing) course. A copy of the writ petition has also not beenenclosed and as such it is not possible to know as to what prayershad been made in the writ petition filed before the High Court.

DThe same is not even clear from the impugned judgment of theHigh Court. [Para 7][1022-C-E]

1.2 The respondent no. 1 has categorically stated that theonline application Form submitted by the appellant was incompleteand no supporting documents were attached with the same. TheEappellant has not filed any proof to show that it had given allrequired particulars in the online application form. In the absenceof the copy of the writ petition having been filed before this Court,it cannot be ascertained as to whether there was any suchaverment made even in the writ petition. It has also not beenFstated by the appellant institution that the requisite documentswere filed along with the application form (which is categoricallystated by the respondent no. 1 to be incomplete). The very factthat the certificate of affiliation was issued in favour of the appellantinstitution by the Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University,Jabalpur, on 02.02.2019, which was much after the last date forGsubmission of the online application form, would make it clearthat the said document of affiliation was not even available withthe appellant institution at the time of filing of the online applicationform. [Para 11][1023-F-H; 1024-A]

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PT. BATESWARI DAYAL MISHR SHIKSHA SAMITI v. M. P. NURSESREGISTRATION COUNCIL & ORS.

1.3 Even otherwise, in the communication of the IndianNursing Council dated 16.04.2018 to the Registrar of therespondent 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 yearhas a Parent Hospital of minimum 100 beds, whereas the institutionsare exempted from Parent Hospital located in tribal & hilly areasonly”. The institution of the appellant is admittedly not in tribalor hilly areas, and it is also not denied that it does not have itsown Parent Hospital. From the perusal of the inspection notewhich was carried out by the respondent no. 1 in compliance ofthis Court order, it is clear that the renewal of the appellant societyand the papers relating to the land and building were found to becomplete and also that there were 48 faculty members, but thecomplete online application form had not been submitted and norenewal fees had been deposited and further, the institution didnot have recognition certificate for the academic session2018-19. In the said inspection report, it has also been statedthat the appellant institution did not have its own hospital butwas affiliated to certain hospitals, which hospitals hadonly certified that they were not affiliated to any other institution.[Para 9, 10][1023-A-D]

1.4 The judgment of the High Court cannot be faulted andthere was no occasion for granting permission to the appellantinstitution for running the M.Sc (Nursing) course for the academicsession 2018-19. [Para 12][1024-B]

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 3137of 2019.

From the Judgment and Order dated 13.11.2018 of the High Courtof Madhya Pradesh, Principal Seat at Jabalpur in WP No. 25716 of2018.

Jasbir Singh Malik, Manish Kumar Tirthpuria, Ms. Usha NandiniV., Advs. for the Appellant.

V. S. R. Krishna, T. Mahipal, Rahul Kaushik, Ms. BhuvneshwariPathak, Shilpi Satyapriya Satyam, Siddharth Chakravorty, Tapan Trivedi,Advs. for the Respondents.

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1020 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2019] 2 S.C.R.

AThe Judgment of the Court was delivered by VINEET SARAN, J. 1. Leave granted.

2. Heard learned counsel for the appellant as well as Shri RahulKaushik, learned counsel for the respondent no. 1, Madhya PradeshNurses Registration Council.B

3. Appellant institution is a society which runs an institution by thename of Dayal Nursing College, Gwalior. It is claimed by the appellantinstitution that it is running the B.Sc (Nursing) course since 2006, andalso certain other courses like ANM, GNM and Post Basic B.Sc (Nursing)courses since 2008, 2010 and 2018 respectively. Since the appellantCinstitution was not granted recognition for running the B.Sc (Nursing)course for the academic session 2018-19 and also recognition for startingof M.Sc (Nursing) course, the appellant filed a Writ Petition No. 25716of 2018, which was disposed of on 13.11.2018 (along with a bunch ofsimilar petitions). Relying on a judgment of the Supreme Court in someDother earlier case, the Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh HighCourt at Jabalpur disposed of the writ petition (along with other writpetitions) with the direction that the State Nurses Registration Council(for short ‘SNRC’) shall hold an inspection as soon as possible and decidethe issue of recognition latest by 20[th] November, 2018, and in case theSNRC did not recognise the appellant institution, considering that theElasteHear date of admission was then declared to be 30[th] November,2018, the appellant institution would be allowed to hold classes for B.Sc(Nursing), as well as GNM (Diploma Course) for the academic session2018-19. Challenging the said order, this appeal has been filed with theprayer to “direct the Indian Nursing Council/State Nursing CouncilFto grant recognition to the petitioner institution for its courses forthe academic session 2018-19”. The copy of the writ petition filedbefore the Madhya Pradesh High Court has not been filed and thus weare unable to know as to what prayers were made before the MadhyaPradesh High Court [i.e. whether it was for grant of recognition forB.Sc (Nursing) course or M.Sc (Nursing) course, or both]. We are alsoGunable to know as to what were the grounds taken by the appellantinstitution before the High Court in support of its prayers.

4. The submission of the learned counsel for the appellant institutionis that the institution has been running B.Sc (Nursing) course since theyear 2006 but because the SNRC did not conduct the inspection,Hrecognition for B.Sc (Nursing) course could not be granted in favour of the appellant institution. It has been contended that despite mandamushaving been issued by the Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh HighCourt 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 issuedby this Court in this appeal that an inspection was conducted by theSNRC on 08.03.2019. In the said report, according to the appellantinstitution, no deficiencies were pointed out with regard to the faculty,laboratory, class rooms and other infrastructure facilities. It has alsobeen contended that the appellant institution has consent of affiliationfor the academic session 2018-19 granted by the Madhya PradeshMedical Science University, Jabalpur on 02.02.2019 for “the proposednew course of M.Sc. Nursing with Subjects (1) – COMMUNITYHEALTH NURSING – 10 Seats; (2) – MENTAL HEALTH NURSING– 10 Seats”. It has thus been submitted that the appellant institution begranted recognition for B.Sc (Nursing) and M.Sc (Nursing) courses forthe academic session 2018-19, which is to commence from 15.03.2019as per the extended date.

5. Per contra, Shri Rahul Kaushik, learned counsel appearing forthe respondent no. 1, Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council hascontended that the “Madhya Pradesh Nursing Shikshan SansthaManyata Niyam 2018” was gazetted on 16[th] October, 2018 and theRules came into force from 1[st] December, 2018. As per the said Rules,the online application forms for academic session 2018-19 were to besubmitted by the institutions, for existing courses, seat enhancement andnew courses, between 17[th] November, 2018 and 22[nd] December 2018.According to the respondent, the form submitted by the appellantinstitution was incomplete, as it did not give the faculty details, nor did itupload any supporting documents along with the form. The appellantinstitution was thus not given permission even for under-graduate coursesfor the academic session 2018-19. It was further contended that theappellant institution did not have its own Parent Hospital, which wasnecessary as per the communication dated 16.04.2018 of the IndianNursing Council and as such, the case of the appellant institution couldnot also be considered for M.Sc (Nursing) course. It was contendedthat 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 forrunning M.Sc (Nursing) course could not be considered. Learned counselfor the respondent submitted that the appellant institution did not have its A

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Aown hospital but it claimed to be affiliated to Family Hospital, Gwalior(50 beds) and SSIMS Hospital, Gwalior (95 beds) and DistrictGovernment Hospital, Gwalior (200 beds). However, there was nopermission 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 hospitalsBwere affiliated to any other college) was of no consequence. Learnedcounsel for the respondent thus submitted that the prayer made in thisappeal does not deserve to be granted.

6. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have perusedthe record.C

7. Though it may be true that the appellant institution had beengranted affiliation for running B.Sc (Nursing) course since 2006, butfrom the record it is clear that for the academic session 2018-19, therewas no permission accorded by the Madhya Pradesh Nurses RegistrationCouncil for running the B.Sc (Nursing) or M.Sc (Nursing) courses. TheDprayer made in the appeal is not clear as to whether the appellant institutionis 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 assuch it is not possible to know as to what prayers had been made in thewrit petition filed before the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The same isEnot even clear from the impugned judgment of the Madhya PradeshHigh Court dated 13.11.2018.

8. The specific case of the respondent no. 1 is that the appellantinstitution had filed incomplete form for registration of the course foracademic session 2018-19, and that no documents to support its claimFhad been filed. Further, the last date for filing the online form forregistration for the academic session 2018-19 was 22[nd] December, 2018.Admittedly the consent for affiliation by the concerned University wasgiven only on 02.02.2019 for running the M.Sc (Nursing) course. Assuch, the said consent of the affiliation was not even available with theappellant institution prior to the last date of filing of the application form.GThus, the question of granting permission to run the M.Sc (Nursing)course for the academic session 2018-19 would not arise, as admittedlythe form filled by the appellant cannot be said to be complete, with alldetails and supporting documents.

PT. BATESWARI DAYAL MISHR SHIKSHA SAMITI v. M. P. NURSESREGISTRATION COUNCIL & ORS. [VINEET SARAN, J.]

9. Even otherwise, in the communication of the Indian NursingCouncil dated 16.04.2018 to the Registrar of the respondent no. 1, MadhyaPradesh Nurses Registration Council, it was categorically mentionedthat “please ensure that for GNM & B.Sc (N) programme, who haveapplied for this academic year has a Parent Hospital of minimum100 beds, whereas the institutions are exempted from Parent Hospitallocated in tribal & hilly areas only”. The institution of the appellant isadmittedly not in tribal or hilly areas, and it is also not denied that it doesnot 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 thisCourt order dated 05.03.2019, it is clear that the renewal of the appellantsociety and the papers relating to the land and building were found to becomplete and also that there were 48 faculty members, but the completeonline application form had not been submitted and no renewal fees hadbeen deposited and further, the institution did not have recognitioncertificate for the academic session 2018-19. In the said inspectionreport, in paragraph 6, it has also been stated that the appellant institutiondid not have its own hospital but was affiliated to certain hospitals, whichhospitals had only certified that they were not affiliated to any otherinstitution.

11. The crucial issue to be considered is whether the appellantinstitution had applied to the respondent no. 1, Madhya Pradesh NursesRegistration Council within the last date, which was 22[nd] December,2018 or not, and if so applied, whether the same was complete in allrespects. The respondent no. 1 has categorically stated that the onlineapplication form submitted by the appellant was incomplete and nosupporting documents were attached with the same. The appellant hasnot filed any proof to show that it had given all required particulars in theonline application form. In the absence of the copy of the writ petitionhaving been filed before this Court, it cannot be ascertained as to whetherthere was any such averment made even in the writ petition. It has alsonot been stated by the appellant institution that the requisite documentswere filed along with the application form (which is categorically statedby the respondent no. 1 to be incomplete). The very fact that thecertificate of affiliation was issued in favour of the appellant institutionby the Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University, Jabalpur, on02.02.2019, which was much after the last date for submission of the A

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Aonline application form, would make it clear that the said document ofaffiliation was not even available with the appellant institution at the timeof filing of the online application form.

12. In view of the aforesaid, we are of the firm view that thejudgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court cannot be faulted andBthere was no occasion for granting permission to the appellantinstitution for running the M.Sc (Nursing) course for the academic session2018-19. The appeal is devoid of merit and is, accordingly, dismissed.

Nidhi Jain

Appeal dismissed.

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