Medical colleges that had failed to get renewal permissions from Medical Council of India for 2014-15 got a lease of life on Thursday after the Supreme Court gave the medical regulator a week’s time to review its earlier order.
The order is set to benefit thousands of medical aspirants as there are about 35 colleges (both private and Government) whose cases would be reviewed by the MCI.
The bench of Justices Dipak Misra and NV Ramana ordered MCI to carry out compliance verification assessment of the existing medical colleges which applied for renewal of permission for admission to MBBS course for academic session 2014-15. The bench, however, directed MCI not to consider applications dealing with establishment of new colleges or increased intake of seats. Under a timeline fixed by Supreme Court, the MCI was supposed to submit its recommendations to Centre by June 15. By July 15, the Centre was bound to submit letter of permission/disapproval to the concerned colleges.
The Ministry found out that by May 15, the MCI returned only 15 recommendations to Centre while 90 per cent applications (including that of Government colleges) was still pending. On July 8, the Ministry sent yet another reminder to inform MCI about 150 cases that were pending for review with MCI with a majority relating to Government colleges.The MCI turned down 64 cases at one go, which included 41 private colleges, 18 State medical colleges and five Government medical colleges. In some cases, the MCI cited July 15 as the deadline to decide the application, citing this ground to disapprove renewal.