Case: DR ASHOK SINHA Vs. THE STATE OF TRIPURA

2. In an earlier public interest litigation initiated by the appellant, a Division Bench of the High Court of Tripura, by its judgment dated 30 April 2015, directed the State government to take an administrative decision within a period of three months with respect to the Tripura Medical College and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Memorial Teaching Hospital The High Court directed the State government to either reconstitute the managing committee of the Tripura Medical College to ensure that the actual administrative control lies in the hands of the Society and not the government, or alternatively, retain control ?with all consequences?. 3. The State, pursuant to the judgment of the High Court, reconstituted the Society for the Tripura Medical College. The Society has its own recruitment rules and has formulated a pay structure. 4. A fresh writ petition was filed before the High Court in public interest by the same petitioner who had moved the earlier proceedings. The grievance of the petitioner was that despite the earlier directions nothing had changed. In consequence, he sought to challenge the admission procedure and the fees charged from the students, contending that these should be at par with other government medical colleges in the North East.

Reasoning: 7. The first writ petition was instituted in the form of a PIL by the appellant which resulted in the order of the High Court dated 30 April 2015. It needs to be emphasized that the High Court did not issue a mandamus to the State government to run the Tripura Medical College as a government institution. Such a direction was correctly not issued by the High Court as it pertains to the realm of policy. Whether the State government should run the College as a department of the government depends upon numerous circumstances, including the availability of resources and the expertise to run a medical college in the State. In fact, the High Court observed that if the State government were not to administer the Tripura Medical College as an adjunct of the State, it should constitute an independent society. The State government acting pursuant to those directions has constituted a society with its own Memorandum and Bye-laws. The Society has formulated recruitment rules and conducts the affairs of the Tripura Medical College. The Society has its own governing body. Of the eleven members of the Society, the Secretaries in the Department of Finance, Health and Family Welfare, Law and the Directors of Medical Education and Medical Services are officers of the State. However, the members of the newly constituted Society also include six other representatives who are not employees of the State. 8. In our view, it is a matter of policy for the State government to determine the manner in which it should retain administrative oversight so as to ensure that its interest in the proper functioning of the Tripura Medical College is duly observed. Essentially, the appellant raised an issue of policy and it would not have been appropriate or proper for the High Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution either to direct the State government to take over running of the Medical College as a government college or, for that matter, to hand it over entirely to the private sector. If the government has chosen a hybrid model in which a society has been constituted for the purpose of running the Tripura Medical College while, at the same time, allowing the government some voice in important policy decisions, this is not an arrangement which can be questioned in the exercise of judicial review.  9. The grievance that has been urged on behalf of the appellant by Mrs Rachana Joshi Issar, learned counsel, in regard to the fees which are charged from the students can, if any student were to make a grievance before the regulatory committee which has been constituted in the State, be considered by the committee. Bereft of underlying material, it would not be possible for this Court to arrive at an a priori view on the reasonableness of the fees which are charged from the students.