HC allows 22 students with cancelled admissions to appear for nursing exams

However, it also raised concerns about the students’ ignorance of the matter. “It is unbelievable that these students are so gullible that they did not know they were not eligible for admission, even after reading the brochure.”

MUMBAI: Twenty-two students whose admission to nursing courses across multiple colleges in the state was declared illegal were recently allowed to appear for their college examinations, which began on 23 September. The Bombay High Court, however, imposed conditions that once the case concludes and the admissions are found to be illegal, the students would have to drop out of the course.

Bombay High Court at Fort (HT Archives) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

On 1 October, 2024, several students got admitted to Auxiliary Nursing & Midwifery (ANM) and General Nursing & Midwifery (GNM) courses across colleges in Maharashtra after clearing their Class 12 exams. On 4 March this year, the Maharashtra State Board of Nursing and Paramedical Education (MSBNPME) and the Director of Medical Education and Research declared the admission of over 90 students as “illegal,” after scrutinising and finding that they were illegally inducted into the course by the college.

A month prior, on 24 February, the Indian Nursing Council had informed the MSBNPME that students eligible for ANM and GNM programmes must have a background in vocational subjects such as ophthalmic techniques, medical laboratory technology, auxiliary nursing and midwifery, X-ray technology, or yoga anatomy and physiology.

MSBNPME submitted to the court that at least 22 students, who did not pursue the mandatory vocational subjects in their Class 12, were given admission illegally. Several students had actually pursued entirely unrelated subjects such as computer technology and crop science in Class 12. Out of the 90 illegal admissions, 68 were cancelled, and 22 students approached the court.

The court was informed that the 22 students issued consent letters to cancel admissions on their own, as they were irregular and could not have been regularised. However, the students submitted that their colleges have conditionally permitted a batch of students to appear for the exams, despite their “illegal” admission. The petitioners stated that the rest of the students, too, deserved to be granted the permission to attend exams, beginning from 23 September, on grounds of parity.

Against this backdrop, a division bench of Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge and Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, on 22 September, permitted the students to appear for the exams. However, the bench remarked that if illegal admissions are allowed to continue, it would amount to a “fraud being played on the system.”

It further held that if the college is found responsible for such a fraud, its students can seek damages against it. Then, the court can direct the Indian Nursing Council as well as the MSBNPME to initiate appropriate action against such erring colleges. Additionally, if any management is found guilty of admitting ineligible students, the other students can seek damages. Then, the Statutory Authority will have the right to take action against implicated colleges.

“Instead of giving false hopes to such students and subsequently taking away their degree certificates, and ousting them from such courses after having spent three years in such a course, a lesser damage would be caused if remedial steps are taken now,” the bench said.

However, it also raised concerns about the students’ ignorance of the matter. “It is unbelievable that these students are so gullible that they did not know they were not eligible for admission, even after reading the brochure,” the court said, adding that the Petitioners are precluded from requesting a declaration of their results since the court is in the final stage of closing the matter.