Norm for setting up a medical college upheld

HYDERABAD: A division bench of the High Court comprising chief justice Madan B Lokur and justice BN Rao Nalla on Friday dismissed a batch of writ petitions filed by aspirants to establish medical colleges and imposed Rs 10,000 costs on each of them.Usha Cardiac Centre Ltd, Vijayawada; Nova Educational Society, Hyderabad; CVS Krishna Murthy Theja Charities, Chittoor; and Ameya Janapriya Health City Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad filed the pleas challenging an order of the state government which mandates that only a society which is running a hospital for a period of five years is eligible for  establishing a medical college. The petitioners contended that the Medical Council of India (MCI) had prescribed only a period of two years and the additional burden imposed by the state government was without the authority of law. While upholding the government’s decision, the bench granted four weeks’ time to the petitioners to pay costs.