Karnataka High Court has observed that most top politicians have four to five nursing colleges and as a result none would dare to take action against these institutions. While dealing with a Public Interest litigation, the court assessed the sorry state of affairs of these colleges in the State.
A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice BS Patil stated that no governments have taken any steps to check this malaise since politicians are the proprietors. We need to have a committee comprising lawyers, eminent personnel and police to conduct random inspections at the nursing colleges.
The Bench also issued summons to the Registrar of Indian Nursing to be present before the Court. The Registrar was directed to file the affidavit on institutions, which were issued the certificate of suitability. The affidavit must name those colleges, found unsuitable at the time of inspection, the Court ordered. Further, the Court ordered the government to publish the names of the recognized institutions.
The Bench is suo motu dealing with the PIL initiated in the wake of a letter, which stated that, many nursing colleges and schools in the State are running without requisite recognition.
Earlier, Dr Ajai Kumar Singh, DH, CoD, who had been directed to probe allegations by students of Chaitanya and Kiran Nursing Colleges for harassment, submitted his report to the High Court on the alleged assaults and threats meted out to nursing students. The report stated that none of the students were confined to any difficulty as alleged.
It however stated that there was a protest in the colleges due to disaffiliation, following which food was denied to the second year boys' students.
The report stated that the faculty of the two colleges is poor as there are only 13 lecturers for 380 students. The classroom and hostel facilities for girls are inadequate as around nine girls are accommodated in one room in the case of the latter.
The Court had ordered the CoD inquiry in the wake of a letter written by the students of the two colleges to the Chief Justice that they were being harassed.