Supreme Court slaps ₹10 lakh costs on National Medical Commission

The Supreme Court on Monday slapped costs of ₹10 lakh on the National Medical Commission (NMC) for "harassing" a medical college which sought approval for increase in the number of seats it offered. [NMC v. Principal KMCT College].A Bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan delivered the order in an appeal by the NMC against a decision of the Kerala High Court which allowed KMCT Medical College to increase the number of seats, provided it gave an undertaking."Prima facie, we find that the attitude of the NMC is not of a model litigant. The NMC is an organ of the State and is expected to act in a fair and reasonable manner...Making a party run from Court to Court to seek permission, specifically when the institute concerned is not a new institute and has been running for the last 18 years, in our view, is only an attempt to harass the institution," reads the judgment..A Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) had initially granted approval to the college to increase its seat intake from 150 to 250 for the academic session of 2023-24. However, the approval was withdrawn in April 2024. In June this year, the NMC denied approval to the college, citing its failure to submit consent of affiliation (COA), and given that the matter was pending before the High Court. The top court noted that any doubts of the NMC could have been clarified by approaching the High Court and that the COA was granted in favour of the college on August 12, 2024.It thus held,"We are, therefore, of the view that the present special leave petitions are an abuse of the process of law and, therefore, dismissed with cost quantified at Rs.10,00,000/- to be paid within four weeks from the date of this order.".₹5 lakh is to be paid to the Supreme Court Bar Association Welfare Fund and another ₹5 lakh was directed to be paid to the Supreme Court Advocate-on-Record Association for its library..Senior Advocate Gaurav Sharma, assisted by Advocates Prateek Bhatia, Dhawal Mohan, Paranja Tripathi, Rajesh Raj and Ankita Dogra, appeared for the NMC. Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, assisted by Advocates Niraj Bobby Paonam and Aswathu MK, appeared for the medical college. .[Read Judgment]