'Enrolling students despite stay', SC imposes Rs 2.5cr penalty on Maha medical college

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, in its order, said the medical college shall deposit Rs 2.5 crore with AIIMS and as a proof the receipt should be furnished to the petitioner, National Medical Commission (NMC), and the registry of the apex court. The top court told the college that it should not recover the penalty from the students.

The bench, also comprising justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, recollected that the NMC inspection team had found that the hospital logbook had medical records, which included the blood pressure of patients, of a future date.

Advocate Gaurav Sharma, representing the NMC, said that in 2021-22, when the top court directed the college not to enrol students, it continued with the process.

However, Sharma also pointed out that after the inspection team found that it had addressed the issues, permission was granted to the college for 100 MBBS seats for the academic year 2022-23.

The apex court said there is a clear overreach of its orders and hence a penalty needs to be imposed on the college and clarified that it will not disturb the admission of the students as it has an effect on their education.

The counsel representing the medical college submitted that admission for 2021-22 had already been done by March and this court had passed the stay order on April 8. The bench told the counsel that it should have been brought to the notice of the court through an application.

In a previous hearing last year, the apex court had equated Annasaheb Chudaman Patil Memorial Medical College to the movie 'Munna Bhai M.B.B.S'.

It had noted that a surprise inspection by a NMC team had found that all "hale and hearty" children were lying in the paediatric ward.

In April last year, the apex court stayed the admission of 100 MBBS students till further orders.

--IANS ss/pgh

( 367 Words)

2023-02-10-23:00:02 (IANS)