St. John’s academy director apologises to HC

Promises to remove ‘objectionable’ notice from institute’s website immediately

The Director of St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Fr. Paul V. Parathazham, on Thursday submitted an unconditional apology to the Karnataka High Court for publishing an ‘objectionable’ notice with regard to admission to post-graduate medical courses on the institute’s website.

The academy assured the court that the ‘objectionable’ notice would be withdrawn immediately.

A submission in this regard was made by a senior counsel representing the academy before a Division Bench comprising Justice Jayant M. Patel and Justice N.K. Suhindrarao during the hearing of a petition filed by Rachana Kishore Ubrangala, an MBBS graduate, questioning the selection process.

‘Expecting favourable verdict’

In the notice dated March 19, the director had stated that the academy is approaching the High Court to have ‘St. John’s PG admissions 2017-18 declared valid on several legal grounds’ in response to a March 11 letter from the Directorate of Medical Education that the process was ‘invalid’ for violating norms. The director had stated in the notice that ‘St. John’s is confident of getting a favourable verdict from the High Court validating its PG admissions for 2017-18’.

On March 22, the Bench had termed the contents as ‘prima facie objectionable’ and had directed the director to personally appear in court on Thursday.

As Mr. Paul appeared in court and tendered an unconditional apology, the Bench said that it does not propose any further action in this regard at this stage.

The Bench, which had stayed the admission process for PG medical courses on March 21, adjourned further hearing till April 3, as the senior counsel for the academy said that the selection process of minority medical educational institutions based on NEET ranking is coming up before the apex court on March 24.

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