No new nursing college in state this session: State govt to HC

Bhopal/Jabalpur: The state govt informed a division bench of the MP High Court, which is hearing a petition seeking action against "fake" nursing colleges operating in large numbers in the state, that no new nursing colleges were allowed to open in the academic session 2024-25.
Only the old colleges found eligible by the CBI were given recognition to operate. Meanwhile, the bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi and Justice AK Paliwal asked the state govt to present a report on the action taken against the registrar of the MP Nursing Council, Anita Chand, for irregularities committed by her before deferring the case for hearing to Dec 12.
During the previous hearing of the case, the court ordered that all the eligible nursing and paramedical colleges in the state for the academic session 2024-25 would be affiliated with MP Medical University. The court also directed that the list and shortcomings found in the nursing colleges declared 'unfit' to operate by the CBI should be mentioned on the website of the MP Nursing Council.
President of the Law Students' Union, Vishal Baghel, filed a PIL raising the issue of a large number of 'fake' nursing colleges operating in the state, particularly in the tribal areas, which do not have the requisite infrastructure or manpower to run the nursing courses. During the hearing of the petition, the high court ordered a probe by the CBI into the credentials of all the nursing colleges in the state and whether they have the requisite facilities to operate nursing courses. The CBI gave a clean chit to 169 nursing colleges, pointed out deficiencies in 74 but said they could be rectified, and found 65 nursing colleges unfit to operate.
Later, the court constituted a three-member committee headed by a retired judge of the high court, Justice Rajendra Kumar Shrivastava, to examine whether the 74 nursing colleges, which the CBI found to have deficiencies that could be cured, actually do so within the given time frame and decide on adjusting students of these colleges to other colleges in the meantime. The 65 nursing colleges found unsuitable for operation by the CBI will be shut, and their students will not be adjusted to any other college, said the court.
In the meantime, some CBI officials involved in the probe were arrested by the CBI Delhi team on charges of demanding a bribe from proprietors of the nursing colleges to give their colleges a fitness certificate, thereby putting the probe and its outcome in question.
Following this, the court ordered a fresh probe into the 169 colleges given a clean chit by the CBI. The court further asked the CBI to inspect the colleges in the presence of a judicial magistrate and also get videos and pictures of the entire inspection process.
The CBI has, meanwhile, presented a list of colleges found eligible on second inspection to the court in a sealed cover. The number of colleges found eligible this time around is said to be even less than the previous 169 colleges.