HC seeks Delhi stand on unrecognised nursing institutes

The Delhi High Court Monday asked the city government, and the Indian and Delhi Nursing Councils to respond to a plea seeking closure of nursing councils and institutes not recognised by the authorities, to save the future of students enrolled in nursing courses there.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru asked the Delhi government's health and family welfare department, Indian Nursing Council (INC), Delhi Nursing Council (DNC), Rajasthan Nursing Council (RNC) and the Rajiv Gandhi General Institute in Alwar, Rajasthan, to respond to the plea and posted the matter for March 8 next year.

The court was hearing a plea by Sushma Chauhan who obtained a diploma in nursing from the Rajiv Gandhi General Institute in 2006 and got it registered with the RNC.

However, she recently came to know that the institute and the council were not recognised by the INC and was denied a job.

Filing her petition through advocate Sugriva Dubey, Chauhan said institutes giving training to students to become nurses do not disclose that the nursing council was not recognised. After the degree is obtained from that unrecognised nursing council, the students find it hard to get jobs in both government and private hospitals.

The plea said the DNC also does not recognise the RNC and has refused employment to some nurses who passed out from that institute.

Dubey informed the court that a large number of students do not know that the RNC is not recognised by the INC.

The plea said students after completing their diploma course from the RNC applied to the Delhi government hospitals and also those managed by the Centre. But special treatment was "arbitrarily" given to some students and they were employed.

"But a number of other students who got their diploma from the same unrecognised nursing council are not given employment only on the ground that unrecognised nursing councils cannot grant degree or diploma and those students are not competent to get employment," the plea said.

The plea said the government does not treat the students "equally" as some of them were given employment and those who do not have any influence are being deprived jobs.

"As many as 400 nurses, after completing training from the RNC, have been appointed in different hospitals owned by the Delhi government and also in hospitals managed by the Centre, which is violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution," it said.

The plea said the RNC was managed by the Rajasthan government and hence those getting degrees and diplomas from it were given employment by the state.

But if a student wants to get jobs outside the state, the degrees and diplomas were not valid.

The plea asked the court that the INC be directed to give wide publicity about the names of those nursing councils and hospitals whose diplomas are not recognised and "students be alarmed not to get diploma from these institutes".

It also prayed that the INC stop any grant either directly or indirectly to unrecognised councils.