AP: HC denies permission to NRI Medical College for MBBS course

Hyderabad: The NRI Institute of Medical Sciences, at Sangivalsa inVisakhapatnam has been refused permission to run an MBBS course for the year 2016-17 by the Hyderabad High Court. The apex judicial body in the state has also refused to direct the Medical Council of India and the Central Government in this regard, all in an attempt to maintain standards of medical education in the state.

The college had earlier been denied renewal permission by both the MCI and the centre, on grounds of not having the requisite infra structure to start a medical institution. It is claimed that in 2014, when the MCI team came for an inspection to the college, six faculty names furnished to it were those of staff of another medical college. The MCI inspection took place on December 16 and 17, 2014. The apex body also refused to run the college for the academic years 2015-16, 2016-2017.

The management however, challenged the MCI's reasons of refusal and sought permission from the court to run the college for the present year. However, the bench comprising, acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice U Durga Prasad Rao, refused to accord any such relief, at this interim stage. The college cannot make admissions into the MBBS course for the year 2016-17.

The college counsel, however urged court authorities to hold an inspection now and allow the management to complete the admission process for this year.

The MCI Counsel, Vivek Chandra Sekhar opposed all attempts on the part of the college for grant of relief, which had on innumerable occasions failed to establish the credentials of its teaching faculty. Mr. Sekhar furnished the court relevant documents to reveal the attempts made by the MCI to establish credentials of faculty said to be working with the NRI medical college.

According to the MCI counsel, on occasions when the MCI team tried to establish contact with the said teachers over the phone, all calls were directed to a another medical college by the name of Anil Neerukonda Medical College, where a computerized voice asked the inspectors,to dial the required extension number.

The NRI College then tried to hold the Hud Hud cyclone responsible for this redirect of calls. However, the bench summoned the record from BSNL and found the statement to be false. The BSNL stated that though some telephone lines were destroyed by the cyclone, all of them were restored a month before this MCI inspection.

VC Sekhar further told the court that the NRI College had produced fake documents regarding the six teachers and had been making successive attempts to fool both the apex bodies. He urged the court not to comply to the college request for any further inspections.