SC asks Kalahandi medical college management to deposit Rs 2 crore or face NBW

Times of India, May 9, 2016
Ashok Pradhan | TNN | May 9, 2016, 08.52 PM IST
BHUBANESWAR: The Supreme Court on Monday threatened to issue non-bailable warrants (NBW) against management of the Sardar Rajas Medical College and Hospital at Jaring in Kalahandi district unless its deposits Rs two crore with the court by June 25.

A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh asked the Tamil Nadu-based Selvam Educational and Charitable Trust, which owns the college, to deposit bank guarantee of the amount within the deadline or face NBW, said Pratap Venugopal, counsel for some of the affected students who appeared in the court.

The apex court on April 19 had asked the trust to deposit the amount before the SC registry within two weeks. The court had observed prima facie there were reasons to feel the trust should compensate its students for pushing them to the realm of uncertainty from the sphere of certainty. However, the trust did not deposit it. Its counsel had filed an application for modification of the court order seeking to exempt the trust from making the deposit. The apex court did not modify its April 19 order.
Citing poor infrastructure of the college and lack of enough faculty members, the SC and the Orissa high court had last year ordered relocation of all students of the college to other institutions. The 124 students of two batches (2013-14 and 2014-15) were shifted to three Bhubaneswar-based private medical colleges: Hi-Tech Medical College, Institute of Medical Sciences and Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences. The students have raised apprehension that they may lose an academic year in the transferred colleges. They have also alleged discrimination in the new institutions.

The college was established in a public private partnership mode as part of government move to remove regional disparity. The state government had given Rs 10 crore and 25 acre land to the TN trust after it signed an MoU with the Western Odisha Development Council for establishment of the college in 2004. It admitted students only for two years (2013-14 and 2014-15).