CHENNAI: The proposed contempt proceedings against the four private medical colleges in Puducherry, which allegedly refused to admit candidates as per the orders dated June 16 of the High Court, have been dropped by the first bench of the Madras High Court, last week.
Originally, while passing interim orders on a PIL from advocate VBR Menon on June 16 last, the bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar had directed the private college in Puducherry concerned to admit the students, who had been provisionally selected but could not join due to lack of funds in the medical courses for 2017-18, by collecting just `10 lakh each.
Later, Menon filed the contempt petition seeking to punish the management of the four private medical colleges on the ground that they had refused to admit 27 students, as per the June 16 orders. The colleges stated there were no vacancies.
When the petition came up last week, the first bench found that the seats in all the deemed universities were filled up much before the date on which the interim order was passed. There are only one seat each in Radiology and ENT and two in Orthopedics.
Further, in contempt proceedings, the scope of scrutiny by the court is restricted. The court can neither go beyond or alter or modify its earlier order. This court is only to see if there is a willful and deliberate violation of its order, which would ultimately tarnish its majesty.