Emboldened By Continuing To Admit Ineligible Students: Bombay High Court Directs Action Against Nursing Colleges’ Management For Illegal Admissions
The Bombay High Court dismissed a batch of Writ Petitions filed by some students seeking urgent Orders as they were disallowed from appearing in the exam.
Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge, Justice Ashwin D . Bhobe, Bombay High Court
The Bombay High Court has directed the action against Management of Nursing Colleges for giving admission to ineligible students.
The Court was hearing a batch of Writ Petitions filed by some students seeking urgent Orders as they were disallowed from appearing in the exam.
A Division Bench of Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge and Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe observed, “In our view, it would be injustice to those who have lost their admissions because of such illegal admissions. So also, the Managements seem to have got emboldened by continuing to admit students who otherwise are ineligible to be admitted. Having noticed the illegal admissions of the Petitioners, who are amongst 90 such cancelled admission, of the very 1st semester of the 1st Year, no equities are created in favour of the Petitioners.”
Advocates Pratik Balasaheb Rahade and Sakshi Thombre represented the Petitioners, while Addl. GP P.P. Kakade, AGPs V.G. Badgujar, G.R. Raghuwanshi, Advocates Sonali Pawar, Sandeep Dere, and Ajit Hon represented the Respondents.
Factual Background
The Petitioners suffered cancellation of their admissions to the 1st semester of the 1st Year (3 years course) by the Indian Nursing Council (INC), due to which their admissions to the Auxiliary Nurse Midwifery (ANM)/General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM), were cancelled. The Respondent Nursing Colleges informed the INC as well as the students about the cancellation of their admissions. Yet, some of them were allowed to sit in the classrooms as if they are legally admitted students. Therefore, some of the Petitioners approached the High Court, seeking urgent Orders as they were disallowed from appearing in the 1st semester of the 1st Year exam.
Earlier, the Bench passed an ad-interim Order allowing the Petitioners to appear for the said exam. The Petitioners were the students who were admitted to the 3-year course in the admission process that started in October 2024. They secured admission to the ANM/GNM courses in the Nursing Colleges after their 12th Standard exams. Thereafter, the INC commenced its routine verification exercise and informed the Registrar of the Maharashtra State Board of Nursing and Paramedical Education regarding the same. The Registrar of the Board submitted that after due verification of the Applications, 22 students (the Petitioners) were found to have been admitted illegally, along with 68 others. He submitted that these are not irregular admissions, but illegal admissions.
Court’s Reasoning and Directions
The High Court in view of the facts and circumstances of the case, said, “The peculiarity in these cases is that even the Petitioners admit that they do not fulfill the requisite qualifications. It is their contention that the College Managements have admitted them by charging them Rs.60,000/- each. They seek negative parity with some students whose admissions are also illegal and are presently in the 2nd and 3rd Years. Their admissions are intact.”
The Court, therefore, issued the following directions –
a] The admissions of all the Petitioners stand cancelled.
b] The results of the examination taken by the Petitioners under the ad-interim orders of the Court, shall not be declared for 45 days, to the extent of the Petitioners only.
c] The answer sheets of the Petitioners be preserved for only 45 days and thereafter, the physical copies be destroyed. The scanned soft copies be preserved for the statutory period.
d] The competent Authority shall initiate action against the Managements for having illegally admitted the students, by following the due procedure laid down in law. Such inquiry/action will include:
(i) scrutiny of all admissions for a period of 5 preceding years.
(ii) if illegally admitted students are in advanced educational curriculum, viz., the third year, their admissions be protected and appropriate strict action be taken against the Managements and also erring officials of any statutory bodies.
e] The Managements shall return the entire fees collected from the Petitioners, within 45 days.
f] The Managements shall pay Rs.1 lakh to each of the Petitioners, towards damages for the loss of one year, within 45 days.
Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the Writ Petitions.
Cause Title- Nandini Prakash Ingawale & Anr. v. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2025:BHC-AS:43711-DB)
