THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE U.DURGA PRASAD RAO
Writ Petition No.20483 of 2019
ORDER:
The petitioner seeks a writ of mandamus declaring the inaction of the respondents in issuing admission notification for various Paramedical courses constituted, permitted and recognized by 1st respondent as arbitrary, illegal and contrary to the purport of Sections 17 & 24 of the Andhra Pradesh Para Medical Board Act, 2006 (for short, ‘the Act, 2006’), ultra vires and violative of the Articles 14, 19 & 21 of the Constitution of India and for a consequential direction to the respondents.
2. The case of the petitioners is that they are the Paramedical institutions established with the permission of 2nd respondent and recognized by 1st respondent for imparting Paramedical training courses to the trainees as per its scheme and curriculum. The 1st respondent is a body corporate constituted under Section 3 of the Act, 2006. Under Section 17 of the Act, 2006 the Board is empowered to fix the criteria for establishment of Paramedical institutions, recognize the institutions, conduct common examinations and award diplomas.
(a) Prior to the Act, 2006, the Government used to accord permissions under the A.P. Education Act, 1982 on the basis of essentiality certificate issued by the high level committee for establishment of Para Medical institutions. However, on advent of the Act, 2006, the Government constituted 1st respondent as a body 2 corporate under Section 3 of the said Act, which was entrusted with the functions of Recognition, framing of regulations, prescription of standards and qualifications to the faculties, inspection, fixation of fee etc. for the institutions. Thus, with the creation of the 1st respondent all the functions discharged by the Government stood transferred to 1st respondent except the appellate powers. The Board is now empowered to receive the applications, constitute committees to evaluate the infrastructure of the institution and accord its recognition to the institution. Even after the establishment of 1st respondent, the 2nd respondent used to issue permissions on the basis of essentiality certificates issued by the high level committee. In that course the petitioners 1, 2, & 6 were permitted vide G.O.Ms.No.261 H.M.F (J2) Dept. dated 01.10.2012. Similarly, the other petitioners were also permitted under different G.Os. Before and after bifurcation of the State of Andhra Pradesh, recognized colleges irrespective of permissions by the Government in both the States were allotted students by the respondents till the academic year 2014-15.
(b) The further case of the petitioners is that since the academic year 2015-16, admission notifications were not issued by the respondents. The inaction on the part of the respondents was questioned by some of the colleges in 2016 by filing the writ petitions. Pending those writ petitions, 1st respondent issued notification inviting applications from the qualified students to apply for various courses for the year 2016-17 under Para Medical Board and constituted Selection Committees for each District and allotted students to the 3 institutes permitted by the Government and denied to the colleges permitted by the Board. Then another batch of writs was filed questioning the restriction of allotment of the students only to the institutions permitted by 2nd respondent. As per the Act, 2006, the 1st respondent is an autonomous body and competent to grant permissions. The intervention of the Government is not contemplated under the said Act. Having granted recognition to the petitioners, there is no reason for the respondents to confine the counselling and allotment of the students to the institutes which were established under the Government orders alone. Questioning the said arbitrary action, W.P.Nos.16610 & 31521 of 2016 were filed and those writ petitions were allowed and a direction was given to permit the petitioners therein to make admissions for the academic year 2017-18. Aggrieved by those orders, W.A.No.157/2018 & batch was filed by the respondents 1 & 2. This Court was pleased to stay the direction of the learned single Judge to issue notification for the academic year 2017-18 in respect of the writ petitioners therein.
(c) Now, the present grievance of the petitioners is that the respondent authorities are not issuing notification for the purpose of admissions enabling the petitioners to get admission. The orders of this Court in W.A.No.157/2018 & batch will not preclude the Government from issuing notification for the subsequent academic years. Subsequent to the stay orders in the batch of appeals, two academic years have elapsed, but no notifications were issued. The recognised colleges gave several representations but of no avail. The 4 petitioners have spent huge amount towards infrastructure, equipment, staff etc. Several hospitals have also been set up in the State after bifurcation of the State. With the denial of the admissions by the respondents the students are moving to other States for training. There is a huge employment potentiality for the Para medical training in the State. There is no justification for the respondents in not issuing the notification.
Hence, the writ petition.
3. The 1st respondent filed counter and additional counter and opposed the writ petition. The main contention of the 1st respondent is that the admission notification is due for the academic year 2019-20. A note was submitted for approval to the Principal Secretary to the Government, HM & FW Department dated 08.08.2019 for seeking approval for issuance of notification for the Government approved institutions only and orders are awaited. With the pressure of some of the private Paramedical training institutions, again a note was submitted for approval to issue notification. The orders from the Government are awaited. It is submitted that NF.No.159/APPMB/Admission for 19-20 dated 08.08.2019 file was circulated by the Special Chief Principal Secretary on 26.01.2020 with remarks “DME and Secretary, Paramedical Board to discuss”. The file was forwarded to the Secretary, APPMB on 27.01.2020. The Secretary, A.P. Paramedical Board had discussed with Special Chief Secretary & Director of Medical Education on 28.02.2020 for issuance of admission notification for various Paramedical courses for the academic year 2019-20 at the chambers of the Special Chief Secretary, HM & FW Department, AP Secretariat as follows:
The Admission Notification is delayed for the year 2019- 20, due to various legal cases of writ petitions and writ appeals.
Special Chief Secretary has proposed to issue admission notification for the next year i.e., 2020-21, provided all the 446 institutions should be inspected by village/ward secretariats and after strict inspection, those institutions certified by the village/ward secretariats and eligible institutions can be issued admission notification for the next year.
The private paramedical institutions, which are not satisfied by the inspection report of the committee can appeal to DM&HOs of the concerned districts.
Accordingly a draft D.O. Letter to be addressed to Principal Secretary, PR & RD, to give necessary instructions to the concerned HOD. (copy enclosed).
The same information submitted through e office to the Spl. Chief Secretary, HM & FW Department on 23/03/2020 by Secretary along with List of Colleges and inspection proformas. The file is still pending with Spl. Chief Secretary, HM & FW Dept due to covid-19.
The respondents thus prayed to dismiss the writ petition.
4. Heard Sri C.Raghu, learned counsel for petitioners, and the learned Additional Advocate General representing the respondents.
5. Reiterating the writ petition averments, learned counsel for petitioners would try to emphasize the need for the Paramedical staff in normal times as well as in extraordinary circumstances like COVID-19 pandemic. He further submitted that due to non-issuance of the notification for the last few years, almost all the hospitals are running short of the Paramedical staff and therefore, this is the high time that the Government shall consider the problem with a humanitarian touch and issue notification.
6. Learned Additional Advocate General, on instructions, submitted that the Government is considering the issuance of notification and due to some administrative reasons it requires a reasonable time for issuance of the notification. He fairly submits that a reasonable time may be fixed by the Court for issuance of notification.
7. In view of the above respective submissions, this Writ Petition is disposed of directing the respondents to consider the facts and circumstances in a pragmatic manner and issue the admission notification for various Paramedical courses as expeditiously as possible, but not later than eight (8) weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. No costs. As a sequel, interlocutory applications, if any pending, shall stand closed.
U. DURGA PRASAD RAO,
17.12.2020
MVA
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