Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: A division bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury cautioned the universities ought to be careful in continuing with affiliation to colleges for introducing B.Pharm. courses without prior approval from the competent authorities.
A public interest litigation (PIL 16/2023) flagged a very serious issue: there are several private pharmacy institutions in Assam which are illegally admitting students to the B. Pharma course without obtaining the mandatory “No Objection Certificate”, or approval from the state government, before starting the admission. The further contention of the petitioner is that those institutions were granted only temporary affiliation for a year by two universities acting as examining authorities, namely, Srimanta Sankardev University of Health Sciences and Assam Science and Technology University.
The contention of the petitioner initially was that such admissions violated the specific Rules of the Pharmacy Council of India and the Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) Course Regulations, 2014, requiring prior approval from the Pharmacy Council of India for starting a B. Pharma course and taking admission of students for such a course. A concern has been raised that the students, who normally would pay heavy fees without being aware of the irregularities in running the college or the course, which ultimately may lead to derecognition of such colleges, may be left absolutely high and dry in the middle of their careers.
The bench said, “This evidence is good enough for us to close this petition, but with a direction and caution that the universities, which are the examining bodies, ought to be careful in continuing with such affiliation of such colleges which do not have the prior approval. It is also expected of the Pharmacy Council of India to properly monitor the running of such courses by private institutions.”
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