Punjab and Haryana HC orders to shift all 258 MBBS students of Chintpurni Medical College to other institutes

The Punjab and Haryana high court ordered the National Medical Commission (NMC) and the Punjab government to shift all 258 students of Chintpurni Medical College in Pathankot to other colleges. At least 149 students, including 15 from Ludhiana had filed a writ petition in the high court in this regard. The court has also disposed of all 11 writ petitions including one filed by the college management.

The first writ petition was filed by 51 students in July 2023 and later a group of 65 students filed another writ petition.

The petitioners requested shifting of students of academic sessions 2021-22 and 2022-23 undergoing MBBS course to any other recognized, affiliated and approved medical college within the Punjab or to any other medical college having affiliation with Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS).

The college has remained in controversy for a long time. The college was started in 2011 but closed in 2016 for not providing the basic infrastructure required . The college managed to get permission to accept admissions for MBBS batch again in 2021 and the permission continued in year 2022. Thereafter the permission was withdrawn again for lack of infrastructure and facilities.

The petitioner also mentioned that the college has failed to provide basic infrastructure facilities in terms of building, clinical material, and teaching faculty to impart the necessary education for the medical professional course being undertaken by the petitioners. They also mentioned that the NMC has also declined to renew the recognition given to the college.

The NMC had withdrawn the college’s recognition after an inspection.

An affidavit filed by NMC before the court on January 5 mentioned that a committee comprising of Dr BN Gangadhar, president, medical assessment and ratings board; officiating chairman, NMC, Dr Aruna V Vanikar, president undergraduate graduate medical education, Dr Karunakar Reddy, member national medical commission: vice chancellor, Kaloji Nara-van Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences, Telangana, Dr JL Meena, member, medical assessment and rating board, Dr Yogender Mallilq, member ethics and medical registration board and Pankaj Agrawal, director, national medical commission of MARB held a meeting on December 8, 2023, wherein, the case of the respondent medical college, along with all the relevant records and representation was discussed. The Punjab director medical education (DME), and vice- chancellor, BFUHS were also invited to the meeting. The principal/dean of the respondent medical college was also invited to present the case on behalf of the college.

The DME, Punjab and BFUHS V-C while referring to the recent inspection report concurred that the college lacks infrastructure and facilities. The committee also considered the fact that even in the past all the batches of the respondent medical college were transferred to other medical colleges and there are serious deficiencies in the respondent college. In view of the above, the committee decided to transfer the students admitted to respondent medical colleges to other medical colleges of the state, as per procedure. The committee further decided to explore the option of penalising the college for its misdeeds and repeated failure to comply with the NMC regulations and norms.

The high court has ordered all the stakeholders to complete the process of shifting the students within 16 weeks.