The high court has directed the state government as well as the Karnataka State Nursing Council to consider and take a final decision within eight weeks on the applications filed by private institutions for opening 25 nursing schools in the state.
The institutions, some of them from Bengaluru, had applied to the authorities concerned for opening nursing schools to offer a Diploma in General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) course from the 2019-20 academic year. But the authorities neither gave approval/recognition nor refused it, they stated.
The institutions maintain that the university doesn't have to obtain a no-objection certification from the Indian Nursing Council insofar as recognition and approval to the school of nursing are concerned.
In response, the Karnataka State Nursing Council argued in the court that after the applications were filed, the Indian Nursing Council decided to phase out the GNM course by bringing in a single-entry level to nursing courses by redesigning the curriculum of BSc (Nursing).
A communication to this effect was sent to all the principal secretaries (health) on September 19, 2019. Further, state governments were also requested that no new GNM school of nursing should be approved, starting 2019-20.
However, on November 26, 2020, the Indian Nursing Council issued another notification withdrawing its circular dated September 19, 2019, pertaining to the proposal on the single entry level for nursing.
Considering the fact that the applications were filed way back in 2019, Justice P Krishna Bhat directed the authorities to decide on them within eight weeks. The court disposed of the petitions by directing the authorities to consider the petitioners' applications as if they were filed for the academic year 2021-22 and in compliance with the procedure enunciated under the bye-laws of the Karnataka State Nursing Council.
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