Allahabad High Court: In a writ petition filed by the Paramedical Council of India (‘PCI’) for directing the Union to permit it to function as Paramedical Council to grant recognition and to register the Institutions, imparting education in the field of Paramedical Courses, until the formation of any regulatory body for paramedicals by the Union, and not to interfere in peaceful functioning of PCI in imparting the paramedical education and training, the division bench of Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Jayant Banerji, JJ held that, given the mandate of the NCAHP Act in general and of Section 40 of the Act in particular, PCI cannot be permitted to grant recognition to institutions imparting education and training or register any such institution, except in accordance with, and to the extent permissible under the scheme and terms of the Act.
The Court said that PCI is infact seeking legitimacy to exercise a function that is within the domain of the legislative power of the Parliament exercisable under the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India.
The Court took note of National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021, (‘NCAHP Act’) and said that under Section 10 of the NCAHP Act, the Commission is empowered to constitute Professional Council for every recognised category of the allied and healthcare professionals specified in the Schedule to the Act. Further, Chapter III of the NCAHP Act deals with State Allied and Healthcare Council. Section 22 of the Act authorises the State Government to constitute a State Council for exercising such powers and discharging such duties as may be laid down under the NCAHP Act. Section 29 empowers the State Council to constitute the specified Autonomous Board for regulating the allied and healthcare professionals. It also took note of Chapter V, Section 40 of the Act that deals with the establishment of new allied and healthcare institutions.
The Court after examining the entire NCAHP Act, said that it is a comprehensive enactment dealing with the aspect of education, registration and licencing of allied and healthcare professional, regulation of allied and healthcare institutions and other related matters.
Thus, it held that PCI cannot be permitted to grant recognition to institutions imparting education and training or register any such institution, except in accordance with, and to the extent permissible under the scheme and terms of the NCAHP Act.
[Paramedical Council of India v Union of India, 2023 SCC OnLine All 43, decided on 02-02-2023]
*Apoorva Goel, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.
