SC rejects Pharma Council's plea against HCs' judgements on moratorium on new colleges [Read Order]

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday held the right to establish educational institutions is a fundamental right with reasonable restrictions imposed only by a law and not an executive instruction by the state.

"We have held that the right to establish an educational institution is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution and reasonable restrictions on such a right can be imposed only by a law and not by an execution instruction," a bench of Justices B R Gavai and P S Narasimha said.

The apex court upheld the judgements passed by the High Court of Karnataka, Delhi and Chattisgarh, which had allowed writ petitions against resolutions passed by Pharmacy Council of India on July 17, 2019 and September 9, 2019, putting a moratorium on opening of new colleges in the country.

We may observe that there could indeed be a necessity to impose certain restrictions so as to prevent mushrooming growth of pharmacy colleges. Such restrictions may be in the larger general public interest. However, if that has to be done, it has to be done strictly in accordance with law, the bench said.

If and when such restrictions are imposed by an authority competent to do so, the validity of the same can always be scrutinized on the touchstone of law, the bench added.

The court, however, noted that the applications seeking approval for D Pharm and B Pharm courses are required to be accompanied by a No Objection Certificate from the state government and consent of affiliation from the affiliating bodies.

While scrutinizing such applications, the Council can always take into consideration various factors before deciding to allow or reject such applications, the court added.

In its judgement, the court also noted merely because an institution has a right to establish an educational institution does not mean that such an application has to be allowed.

In a particular area, if there are more than sufficient number of institutions already existing, the central council can always take into consideration whether it is necessary or not to increase the number of institutions in such an area. However, a blanket prohibition on the establishment of pharmacy colleges cannot be imposed by an executive resolution," the bench said.

The court dismissed appeals filed by PCI against the High Courts judgements.

Senior advocate Maninder Singh appeared for the PCI while senior advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Vinay Navare, and advocates Amit Pai, Sanjay Sharawat, Siddharth R Gupta, and Shivam Singh, represented the respondent colleges.

[Read Order]