NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a Kerala government’s ordinance that was passed to accommodate 180 students of Kannur Medical College and Karuna Medical College in Palakkad.
The court declared the ordinance ‘ultra vires’, meaning outside the government’s jurisdiction, and against the orders of the High Court and the Supreme Court.
With Wednesday’s order, the admission of 180 students stands cancelled. Though the admission was cancelled last year, the state government passed an executive order seven months later to overturn the court’s order and reinstated the admissions, following requests from the students. In April, the Assembly unanimously passed a bill to replace the ordinance. The state’s ordinance was challenged by the Medical Council of India, which argued that it broke the principle of equality.
A bench led by Justice Arun Mishra had earlier stayed the ordinance while accusing the government of trying to bulldoze the court and had said: “The ordinance blatantly seeks to nullify the binding effect of the order passed by this court. It was not open to declare this court’s order as void or ineffective as was sought to be done by way of ordinance. We therefore, stay its operation and make it clear no student shall be permitted to reap any benefit of any action taken and shall not be permitted to attend the college or the classes or continue in medical colleges in any manner pursuant to ordinance,” it had ordered.