BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has ruled that a state or State Nursing Council (SNC) cannot deny registration to a graduate in BSC Nursing to practice in the state on the ground that the student did not graduate from a college within the state. Also, SNC cannot insist that such students should furnish a certificate of registration or recognition from the Indian Nursing Council (INC) for enrolment or registration to practice in that state.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the order, allowing a petition filed by two nursing graduates, Daniya Joy and Neethu Baby, from Kasaragod in Kerala along with three others, questioning the endorsement issued by the Kerala Nurses and Midwives Council insisting that they submit their INC registration from Karnataka where they completed their BSc, to practice in Kerala.
Both the petitioners studied at a college in Karnataka and intend to practice in Kerala. They submitted their application to KNMC to register themselves, but they were asked to submit the INC registration from where they completed their BSc. They then moved the high court.
The court said that what is even more interesting is that the petitioners are residents of Kerala.
They came to a college in Karnataka for education, obtained their degrees in Karnataka and when they wanted to go back to work in the state in which they were born, the authorities refused to register them as nurses on the ground that the college from which they obtained their degrees is not registered with INC.
This, in considered opinion, is a disservice by KNMC for persons born within its own state, to say the least, the court said.