PIL seeks action against unapproved nursing colleges in TN

The Madras High Court has sought the response of Indian Nursing Council and Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council on a petition which alleged several nursing colleges were being run in parts of the state without approval and infrastructure and sought action against them.
Such institutions were mostly functioning in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam districts and claimed to have got approval from BSS (Bharathiya Seva Samaj) and NCVRT (National Council for Vocational Research and Training), which were not empowered to grant such approval, the public interest litigation (PIL) petition submitted.
When the petition came up for hearing yesterday, a division bench comprising Justices M M Sundresh and R Mahadevan ordered notice to the two nursing councils asking them to file their replies within eight weeks.

The bench also directed the Regional Director, Department of Employment and Training and Health Department authorities of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts to file their responses.
Petitioner Varaaki submitted that most of the nursing colleges were being run without approval and also conducted catering courses without proper infrastructure facilities admitting students, mostly from backward, and most backward classes and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
He claimed that BSS and NCVRT were neither the governing body nor state machinery and instead were private organisations like a private trust.

Though they did not come under the purview of Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947, they were giving approval to the "fake" institutions, the petitioner contended.

Apart from collecting fees from the students, these colleges were also getting subsidy from the state government for enrolling students from SC/ST category and thus were swindling the public money, the petitioner alleged.
He prayed to the court to direct the Indian Nursing Council to conduct a proper investigation and take legal steps against the institutions.