New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed displeasure over the Madhya Pradesh High Court issuing further directions despite the apex court having stayed its earlier order stalling the admission process in paramedical courses for academic years 2023–24 and 2024–25 in the state.
On August 1, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India B R Gavai had paved the way for restarting the admission process in paramedical courses by lifting the stay granted by the high court.
On Thursday, a bench comprising the CJI and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing a plea by the registrar of the Madhya Pradesh Paramedical Council, represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi.
“I should have asked for a stay of the proceedings on that day itself… you see, the high court notes the Supreme Court order and yet proceeded with the matter and issued further directions… this is shocking,” Rohatgi said.
“This is not the way the high court should pass orders,” he added.
“We are surprised at the manner in which the high court has passed the order. This court stayed the high court’s order on August 1. Even after noting in its order that the Supreme Court had stayed the earlier order, the high court proceeded to hear the matter further,” the CJI said in the order.
While emphasising that the Supreme Court does not exercise administrative control over high courts, the CJI stressed the importance of judicial propriety.
“Where this court has stayed the order of the high court of July 16, proceeding to pass further directions is not in tune with the constitutional scheme under which the courts function,” the bench noted.
It ordered a stay on both the impugned order and the ongoing proceedings before the high court.
Earlier, the top court had lifted the stay imposed by the high court on the admission process in paramedical courses.
On July 16, a division bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur stayed the ongoing recognition and admission process for paramedical courses for 2023–24 and 2024–25 by taking note of a plea filed by the law students' association.
The MP High Court had stayed the admission process in paramedical courses after taking note of a plea filed by the law students' association.
The top court was apprised Rohatgi, appearing for the registrar of Madhya Pradesh Paramedical Council, that such a drastic order was passed by the high court on a petition filed by some law students having no locus in the matter.
The senior lawyer referred to COVID-19 pandemic and said that certain paramedical courses in the states could not begin on time due to the pandemic.
He said the registrar of the Paramedical Council grants recognition to institutions and regulates the admission process and the impugned order of the high court has brought everything to a standstill.
"How can law students file such a petition?" the CJI asked, and stayed the high court order.
The CJI had also issued notices to the state government and others on the plea of the Paramedical Council.
The high court stay order came following a move to permit 166 paramedical institutions to begin courses for the 2023–24 academic year, despite granting recognition to these institutions only in 2025.
The high court found the timeline "illogical" and questioned how institutions could start academic sessions for 2023–24 in the year 2025 when they did not even exist at the time the courses were supposed to commence.
It examined the order of July 14 of the Paramedical Council granting permission to 166 institutions to offer courses for 2023–24.
However, the high court pointed out that the courses were originally scheduled to run from November 2023 to October 2024 and that the last date for institutions to apply for recognition was December 31, 2023.
The bench expressed strong disapproval of the retrospective recognition, stating, "It belies all logic, sensibility and questions the sanity of a reasonable man how these institutions could be allowed to start the course for the year 2023-24 in the year 2025."