All not fine with siddha courses: HC

Chennai: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





Indicating that all is not well with the premier National Institute of Siddha (NIS), the Madras high court has slammed the authorities for having admitted students to research programmes which do not enjoy statutory approval and recognition.

Justice N Kirubakaran, passing orders on a writ petition of I Nithyamala, further directed authorities to furnish key details such as the number of departments, recognition for courses, infrastructure for postgraduate and research programmes, vacancies of teaching and non-teaching faculty at the institute, central budgetary allocation made in the past 10 years, along with similar grant for other institutions offering ayurveda, homeopathy and unani courses and whether sufficient medicines were available at the institute. He also sought to know as to how many patients were visiting the institutehospital daily.

Nithyamala had come to the court saying though she had been selected for PhD programme in Gunapadam subject, the state medical university had intimated in July 2016 that recognition for department of Gunapadam had not been renewed since 2015. She wanted the court to allow her to join the July session by granting eligibility certificate and provisional registration.

An irked Justice Kirubakaran said, “Admitting the students without getting recognition for the research programme is not correct. This itself would show as to how the NIS is being administered by the central government. Though the institute was inaugurated in 2005 with much fanfare, the case on hand would show that NIS is not being administered properly .“