Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Bhagawan Prasad Nursing Institute vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors on 17 November, 2022
Author: Kausik Chanda
Bench: Kausik Chanda
17.11.22
19 Ct. No.238
Sws.M
WPA 23413 of 2022
Bhagawan Prasad Nursing Institute
vs.
The State of West Bengal & Ors.
Mr. Sambhunath De
....for the petitioner
Mr. Nilotpal Chatterjee
....for the Indian Nursing Council
The facts involved in this writ petition are not
disputed by the parties before this Court. The writ petitioner
is a nursing institution for general nursing and midwifery
("GNM" in short) Course.
The institution has obtained the Essentiality
Certificate from the Director of Health Services, West Bengal
for the said course and it has also permission from West
Bengal Nursing Council for the said purpose.
The institution also has affiliation with the West
Bengal University of Health Sciences.
It is the grievance of the writ petitioner that for the
academic year 2022-23, its name has not been included by
the State in the Seat Matrix for G.N.M. Course.
Section 10 of the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947
provides for recognition of qualifications. The said Section is
quoted below:-
"10. Recognition of qualifications:-
2
(1) For the purposes of this Act, the
qualifications included in 15[Part I of]
the Schedule shall be recognised
qualifications, and the qualifications
included in Part II of the Schedule shall
be recognised higher qualifications.
(2) Any authority within the States
16 [***] which, being recognised by the
State Government 17 [in consultation
with the State Council, if any] for the
purpose of granting any qualification,
grants a qualification in general nursing,
midwifery, 18 [auxiliary nursing
midwifery], health visiting or public
health nursing, not included in the
Schedule may apply to the Council to
have such qualification recognised, and
the Council may declare that such
qualification, or such qualification only
when granted after a specified date, shall
be a recognised qualification for the
purposes of this Act.
(3) The Council may enter into
negotiations with any authority 19 [in
any 20 [territory of India to which this
Act does not extend] or foreign country]
which by the law of 21 [such territory] or
country is entrusted with the
maintenance of a register of nurses,
midwives or health visitors, for the
settling of a scheme of reciprocity for the
recognition of qualifications, and in
pursuance of any such scheme the
Council may declare that a qualification
granted by any authority in any 22 [such
3
territory] or country, or such
qualification only when granted after a
specified date, shall be a recognised
qualification for the purposes of this Act:
Provided that no declaration shall
be made under this sub-section in
respect of any qualification unless by the
law and practice 23 [of the foreign
country] in which the qualification is
granted persons domiciled or originating
24 [in India] and holding qualifications
recognised under this Act are permitted
to enter and practice the nursing
profession 25 [in that country]
Provided further that -
(i) any reciprocal
arrangements subsisting at the date of
the commencement of this Act between a
State Council and any authority outside
India for the recognition of qualifications
shall, unless the Council decides
otherwise, continue in force, and
(ii) any qualification granted
by an authority in a territory of India to
which this Act did not extend at the date
of its commencement, and recognised on
the said date by the State Council of a
State to which this Act then extended,
shall continue to be a recognised
qualification for the purpose of
registration in that State.]
(4) The provisions of sub-sections
(2) and (3) and of sections 14 and 15
shall apply mutatis mutandis to the
declaration by the Council of a
4
qualification granted in respect of post-
certificate nursing training as a
recognised higher qualification."
A bare perusal of Section 10 does not indicate that
it speaks of recognition of the training institutions for B.Sc.
(Nursing) Course and G.N.M. Course. It speaks of
recognition of qualifications included in Part-I and Part-II of
the schedule to the said Act. The Schedule to the said Act,
in fact, recognises the certificates, diplomas or degrees in
Nursing issued by the authorities mentioned therein.
The said Schedule makes it clear that a training
institution needs not to be recognised in terms of Section 10
of the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947.
In this case, the institution has already applied for
inspection and deposited the required fees before the Indian
Nursing Council but the Council has not yet inspected the
said institution. The Nursing Council is, therefore, directed
to carry out necessary inspection in terms of Section 13 of
the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947 as expeditiously as
possible.
The Indian Nursing Council in its affidavit filed in
connection with WPA 11494 of 2022 (Gitanjali Foundation
vs. The State of West Bengal & Ors.), however, has clarified
its stand with regard to the inclusion of the training
institutions in the Seat Matrix. It will be useful to quote the
5
relevant paragraphs of the affidavit affirmed on behalf of the
Indian Nursing Council.
"3. That this Hon'ble Court, vide
solemn order dated 03.08.2022, had
directed the answering Respondent to
clarify whether the Petitioner institutions should be allowed to be included in the seat matrix for the joint entrance test for nursing, para medical and allied sciences undergraduate exam, 2022. It is stated that in terms of Section 13 and 14 of the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947, the Council had conducted the inspection of the said institutions. That certain deficiencies pertaining to inadequate clinical facilities and teaching faculty were found. It is submitted that the colleges are well aware of the minimum standards prescribed by the Council in the syllabus of each course. Despite this, serious deficiencies such as low bed occupancy were found in the parent hospital of the Petitioner institute. The said deficiencies were also communicated to the college. However, instead of rectifying the deficiencies, the Petitioner has approached this Hon'ble Court. The process as provided under Section 13 and 14 has still not concluded.
It is clarified that in terms of the aforesaid sections, the compliance report is examined in detail. Thereafter, only the action as provided under Section 14 6 of the INC Act is invoked against the defaulting institution, if required. Till date the Council has not initiated any action as provided under Section 14 of the INC Act in the present case. In other words, no declaration has been passed yet under Section 14 which provides any person holding a recognised qualification whose period of training and study preparatory to the grant to him of the qualification was passed at the institution which does not satisfy the requirements of the Indian Nursing Council in terms of Section 14(1)(b) shall be entitled to be registered only in the State in which the institution is situated.
4. That the state authority being the competent authority to grant recognition/permission to a college is entitled to reject such permission or prevent any college to take admission, in order to maintain the standards of education. It is stated that a state authority, for granting permission, may impose any condition, in accordance with their rules and regulations, to ensure that all the colleges are maintaining the minimum standards as required under the relevant laws. In the present case the rules and regulations of the Council does not provide that a college cannot participate in the counselling till the suitability certificate is issued by the Indian Nursing Council."
7The Indian Nursing Council has, therefore, made it clear that pending consideration of the suitability of the training institution does not stand in the way of inclusion of their names in the Seat Matrix for the relevant academic year until and unless an appropriate order is passed under Section 14 of the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947.
Therefore, I find no reason not to include the writ petitioner in the Seat Matrix for the academic year 2022-23.
Accordingly, I direct the State to include the name of the writ petitioner in the Seat Matrix for the G.N.M. Course for the academic year 2022-23. It will be allowed to participate in the ongoing counselling process for the said academic year.
With the aforesaid observations, the writ petition is disposed of.
Parties shall act upon the server copy of this order downloaded from the official website of this Court.
(Kausik Chanda, J.)