The Supreme Court on Friday lifted the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s stay on the recognition and admission process for paramedical courses in the state, clearing the way for resumption of the admission cycle for the academic years 2023–24 and 2024–25.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran was hearing a plea filed by the Madhya Pradesh Paramedical Council challenging the high court’s July 16 order that halted admissions based on retrospective recognition granted to 166 institutions.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the registrar of the Paramedical Council, argued that the high court had passed an extreme order on the basis of a petition filed by law students who lacked any locus standi in the matter. He added that delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the timely commencement of paramedical courses in the state.
The CJI questioned the maintainability of the petition, asking, “How can law students file such a petition?” The bench then stayed the high court’s order and issued notices to the Madhya Pradesh government and other parties involved.
The controversy stemmed from the Paramedical Council’s July 14, 2025 notification granting recognition to 166 institutions to offer courses for the academic year 2023–24. The Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur had found this move “illogical” and questioned how courses scheduled from November 2023 to October 2024 could be validly run when recognition was granted only in 2025.
The high court had sharply criticized the retrospective nature of recognition, observing, “It belies all logic, sensibility and questions the sanity of a reasonable man how these institutions could be allowed to start the course for the year 2023–24 in the year 2025.”
