Akshar School of Nursing, Indore vs The State of M.P. & Others

Being aggrieved by denial of respondent no.3 to enroll 16 more students for academic session 2016- 17 of GNM Course, the petitioner has

come before this Court to command the respondents to allow them to enroll these students and also to allow them to appear in the GNM

examination commencing from 01.09.2017.

Succinctly stated relevant facts leading to the present petition are that on 26/27.09.2016 respondent no.2 granted sanction to the petitioner

college for starting GNM Nursing Course with 30 seats for academic session 2016-17. Pursuant thereto, respondent no.3 issued letter of sanction

dated 16.11.2016 (Annexure P/3). As the sanction was granted belatedly, enrollment of 16 students could not be done, as their documents could

not be completed on time. However, the petitioner college completed their respective course by holding extra classes. Alleging that the

respondents are not permitting these 16 students to appear in the examination scheduled to be held in the first week of September, 2017 and

terming the impugned action of the respondents as illegal, unreasonable, unfair, unconstitutional and also in violation of the petitioner''s fundamental

rights granted by the Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has approached this Court for issuance of appropriate writ to

direct the respondents to allow enrollment of these 16 students and also to allow them to appear in the examination.

In reply, respondent no.3 has submitted that the petition is not maintainable as the examination for which the petitioner has sought permission

was to be held from 01.09.2017 and has been completed as per scheduled time table, therefore, by elapse of time, relief claimed by the petitioner

is rendered infructuous.

Further it is contended that the Indian Nursing Council vide communication dated 20.05.2016 issued academic calender for all nursing

programmes mentioning that the procedure for admissions will start from July, admissions will close on 31st October and academic session will

start from 1st October every year (Annexure 3/2). It is further mentioned in this letter that after closure of admissions, all universities/boards shall

submit list of admitted students to the Indian Nursing Council (INC) by 15th November every year. The petitioner institution enrolled only 18

students within stipulated time and they were allowed to appear in the examination. A list of 18 students of the petitioner college available on the

website of the INC as on 31.10.2016 demonstrates that the sanction/approval to the petitioner college was granted by the INC well in time. If any

delay would have been there, then the petitioner could not have registered those students also. If due to delay in granting sanction, remaining 16

students could not be enrolled at that time, then the petitioner would have immediately approached the respondent. But it did not approach in the

year 2016 or even till July, 2017. First time, the petitioner approached the respondent no.3 by submitting a letter which was received on

17.08.2017 almost a year after closing of the enrollment. Even in this letter also, number of students was not specified. These facts clearly leads to

the inference that these 16 students were not even admitted at the time when the other 18 students were enrolled and they were admitted at a much

later stage. Therefore the respondents cannot to directed to open the link to enroll such students.

It is also submitted by the respondent that GNM nursing is a professional course where the students are taught the vocation of nursing which

requires theoretical and practical knowledge and the same can only be undertaken if the students complete a requisite number of teaching days

including practical and training. Due to this reason also after a year of enrollment of the 18 students, the petitioner can not be permitted to enroll 16

more students whose even admission is doubtful. Therefore, the respondent prays for dismissal of the petition.

In its rejoinder, the petitioner has submitted that his interest is protected by this Court by interim order dated 11.09.2017. Therefore, the

question that the exams for academic session 2016-17 are over, does not affect its rights. It is also submitted that considering genuine difficulty

faced by the nursing colleges in completing the documents of the students in all respect, the respondent no.3 itself issued a letter dated 25.10.2017

(Annexure P/6) for extending the period of submission of documents for enrollment for the academic session 2016-17 till 30.10.2017. Pursuant to

the aforesaid letter, the petitioner also approached respondent no.3, but being disgruntled by filing of this petition, it refused to allow the petitioner

to enroll the students studying in the college of the petitioner and to permit them to appear in the supplementary examination. Thus, a hostile

discrimination is meted out to the petitioner. If the petitioner also would have been afforded the same opportunity to enroll the students till

30.10.2017 then the deadline of 15.11.2017 to send the list of the students to the Indian Nursing Council could have been very well honoured.

Thus, the petitioner could not be made responsible for the fault committed by the respondent no.3. Respondent no.3 can not take advantage of its

own wrong. It is therefore prayed to direct respondent no.3 to permit the petitioner to enroll the students left out from the enrollment earlier.

From the contention of both the parties, it is clear that the petitioner college was granted permission to admit the students in GNM nursing

course for academic session 2016-2017 prior to 31.10.2016 and the petitioner institution enrolled 18 students on the website of the Indian

Nursing Council till the last date of enrollment. Therefore, it cannot defend its inaction on the pretext that the sanction to start the course was

granted late by the INC. The explanation put forth by the petitioner that delay was due to noncompletion of documents is vague and unsatisfactory.

The petitioner''s claim that it has completed their clinical, practical and theoretical studies by imparting extra classes is not supported by documents.

The petitioner has approached this Court after almost a year of completion of procedural calendar for admission/ enrollment/ examination etc. for

the academic session of 2016- 17. We do not find any sufficient cause for this delay. There is nothing on record to show that the petitioner has

approached the respondent No. 3 or complied with the conditions enumerated in the letter dated 25.10.2017 issued by respondent No.3. Taking

into consideration the peculiar facts of this particular case, the doubts raised by the respondent that these additional students were not even

admitted in the petitioner institution till the time of last date of enrollment, appears to have some substance. In such condition, the petitioner is not

entitled for any relief as claimed for.

In view of the aforesaid, we find that the present petition is devoid of merit, liable to be and is dismissed hereby.