- (1.) CHALLENGING order dated 18.02.2015 whereby, the application dated 31.01.2015 submitted by the petitionerTrust for establishing a new medical college has been returned, the present writ petition has been filed.
(2.) THE petitioner is an educational trust. For establishing Swawlambi Medical College at Hazaribagh, it submitted a proposal on 22.08.2014 which was returned by the respondentMinistry of Health and Family Welfare on 15.10.2014 on the ground that the consent for affiliation issued by the respondentVinoba Bhave University was not in proper format. The petitioner approached this Court in W.P.(C) No.6590 of 2014 and thereafter, the respondentUniversity issued the consent for affiliation in proper format. The petitioner submitted the fresh consent for affiliation issued by the respondentUniversity vide proposal dated 31.01.2015 however, the same has been returned on the ground that the last date for receipt of application was 31.08.2014.
(3.) HEARD learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the documents on record. Referring to Section 10A of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, the learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the respondentGovernment of India receives the applications for establishing new medical college which are required under the law to be forwarded to the Medical Council of India. It is the Medical Council of India which takes a decision on the proposal and the scheme for establishing a new medical college and in appropriate cases, the Medical Council of India provides sufficient opportunity to the proposed medical college for rectifying the deficiencies, if any, found during the inspection. It is thus submitted that any decision on the application for establishing a new medical college can be taken by the Medical Council of India alone and the Central Government cannot reject the application at the threshold. It is further submitted that before rejecting the application, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is required under the law to give an opportunity of hearing, which admittedly has not been given in the present case and thus, the order contained in letter dated 18.02.2015 is liable to be quashed.;