SC strikes down Lucknow medical college admission, slaps Rs 25 lakh fine
The case came under the scanner when one judge of a two-member Allahabad HC bench made hand written corrections to its original order to allow the medical college to admit students to MBBS course for 2017-18.
The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down an Allahabad high court order that allowed a Lucknow-based medical college to admit 150 students for the 2017-18 session, and also asked the institute to pay Rs 10 lakh to each student as compensation, besides refunding their fees.
A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, termed the high court order as unfortunate and a case of breach of judicial discipline.
The top court also slapped a fine of Rs 25 lakh on the GCRG Institute of Medical Science for illegally admitting the students and directed it to pay the money in Supreme Court registry in eight weeks.
The case came under the scanner in September when one judge of a two-member Allahabad high court bench made hand written corrections to its original order to allow the medical college to admit students to MBBS course for 2017-18.
The HC order was in contravention of a SC direction that the lower court shall not pass any interim order pertaining to the academic year 2017-2018.
The Medical Council of India (MCI), the country’s medical education regulator, had moved the top court against the high court’s order.
The court had earlier remarked, “We really fail to fathom the manner in which the high court has misconstrued our order and passed the final order for 2017-2018.”
In its petition, the MCI also highlighted various irregularities, pointing out that the HC had originally passed an order on September 1, signed by both judges allowing the GCRG Institute to admit willing students “within the prescribed time frame”.
On September 4, one of the two judges, Narayan Shukla, made a correction by hand in the order to say, “the respondents (state govt/MCI) shall forthwith make available and permit the students willing to take admission in petitioner college (GCRC) within the prescribed time frame, ie, till September 5, 2017.
He signed the corrections with the remark, “corrected suo moto”, using a Latin term to mean he did it on his own initiative.
The GCRG Institute was among 32 new colleges that failed inspections in 2016 by the MCI.
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