NO MCI Permission for 150 MBBS seats to Gouri Medical College; Delhi High Court upholds MCI decision

New Delhi: Observing the deficiencies pointed out by the Medical Council of India (MCI), Delhi High Court has dismissed the plea filed by the Gouri Devi Institute of Medical Sciences for renewal for the 4th batch of 150 MBBS students for the academic year 2019-20.

The medical college was granted permission for an intake of 150 students in the MBBS course in 2016 for a period of one year, 2016-17. The institute was also directed that the next batch of MBBS students for the academic year 2017-18 would be admitted in the medical college only after obtaining the permission of the Central Government and fulfilling the condition of OC.

However, in 2017 the medical college was debarred by Central Government from admitting MBBS students for 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic session stating that admission can only take place after obtaining the permission of the Central Government for renewal. Following this, the medical college moved a formal application for the renewal for the academic year 2019-20.

Thereafter, an inspection of the institute was conducted by the MCI. The assessment report submitted by the MCI noted deficiencies of teaching staff, resident doctors and infrastructure of the medical college and hospital, wherein out of the required capacity of 360 UG hostel, 210 was available and 150 was deficient while residents hostel and residential quarters for Non-teaching staff were 100% deficient.

In clarification of the same, the medical college wrote to the council mentioning factual details and documents seeking re-evaluation and granted of a fair chance for inspection, as it has been running with just one batch of MBBS students admitted in the academic year 2016-17, thereby suffering great hardship and financial losses for the last two years.

Thereafter, in verification compliance report for the deficiency of teaching faculty of 18.8% and deficiency of residents of 21.2%; a dissent note was put forth by the medical college, clarifying that the deficiencies had been considered by the assessors and only one deficiency (Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology) existed and all other deficiencies as pointed out during the previous assessment had been rectified to the satisfaction of the assessors.

The Director of Medical Education, Department of Health & Family Welfare of the Government of West Bengal forwarded the appeal of the medical college and requested MCI to take necessary action regarding the grant of permission for the academic year 2019- 20. However, the Council informed DME that the council could not consider the representation in regard to the renewal of permission for admission of the 4th Batch of 150 MBBS students for the academic session 2019-20 at that stage as the last date for the academic year 2019-20 was already over.

Aggrieved, the medical college moved the court contending;

• The Minimum Standards Requirement for the 4th Renewal is very high in comparison to the 3rd Renewal requirement, for which the petitioner had to develop the infrastructures of both the college and the hospital up to the recognition level requirements and thus, the admission for the academic session 2019-20 was extremely crucial for the medical college.


• The medical college is providing free treatment to the patients of a large surrounding area which would also be greatly impacted due to financial constraints in case of denial of permission.

The petitioner further made representation to the MCI for the reduced intake of seats reiterating that the number of faculty members accepted by the assessors would fulfil the faculty criteria with respect to the reduced the intake capacity for the current academic session.

Responding to the same, the MCI contended that all the inspections of the medical college took place in the presence of the management including the Dean/Principal who countersigned on each page of the inspection reports and thus all the deficiencies pointed out by the Medical Council of India had been duly accepted by the medical college which included faculty strength, resident doctors strength, bed occupancy, infrastructure and other physical facilities.

Examining the matter, Justice Anu Malhotra upheld the MCI report and stated;

Apparently, the deficiencies that have been pointed out in the instant case being a deficiency of 18.8% for the faculty strength and 21.2% for the resident doctors' strength for the renewal of the 4th Bacth of 150 MBBS students for the academic year 2019-20 cannot be overlooked and cannot pale into insignificance.

In its verdict, the bench dismissed the medical college's petition and upheld the decision made by the MCI--

"In view thus of the deficiencies that have been pointed out by the respondent No.2 in relation to the faculty strength and the resident doctors strength, the other contentions sought to be raised on behalf of the petitioner become insignificant in as much as the respondent No.2 has the duty to regulate and maintain the standards for excellence in medical education."