Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh High Court heard a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Law Students' Association on Wednesday regarding the Nursing College Scam case. The court also considered petitions from Bhopal’s People's University and Aurobindo Medical University regarding their accreditation for the 2023-24 academic session.
These private universities argued that due to the ongoing court case and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the matter, the government has not granted them accreditation for the 2023-24 session. They claimed that they are being unnecessarily troubled and are suffering losses and therefore, requested the court to grant them accreditation for this session.
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‘Date for admissions and accreditation has already passed’
During the hearing before a bench consisting of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi and Justice Achal Kumar Paliwal, it was brought to the court's attention by the petitioner that the cut-off date for admissions and accreditation for the 2023-24 session, as declared by INC, has already passed. Also, the accreditation process for the 2024-25 session is scheduled to be completed in September.
To resolve the issue, the High Court had earlier directed that the Indian Nursing Council be made a party in all cases related to this matter and had asked the Council to clarify whether the cut-off date for the 2023-24 admissions could be extended.
‘Cut-off date could not be extended’
During the hearing, the Indian Nursing Council informed the court that, based on Supreme Court precedents and the ongoing accreditation process for the 2024-25 session, the cut-off date for admissions and accreditation for the 2023-24 session could not be extended.
Nearly 1.5 lakh students could be effected
Notably, the accreditation and examination process for nursing colleges in the state has been disrupted for the past three years due to the CBI investigation. It was ordered by the High Court after the discovery of a nursing accreditation scam.
After investigation, accreditation for 66 colleges found to be involved in irregularities was cancelled and these colleges were sealed. The government had already declared the 2023-24 session in government nursing colleges as null and void in September 2023. However, private universities and colleges admitted students for the 2023-24 session without proper accreditation. If the private colleges' session is also declared null and void, nearly 1.5 lakh students in the state could be affected.
