HC orders audit of nursing colleges across Bengal

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the West Bengal Nursing Council to conduct a comprehensive audit of nursing colleges across the state, including the number of institutions in operation, student strength and the quality of training being imparted.

Justice Biswajit Basu asked the council to complete the audit within six months and submit a report before the court. The judge also ordered that an FIR be lodged if any nursing college is found to be operating illegally during the exercise.

The court further directed nine trustees of a nursing college in Amtala to deposit Rs 1 lakh each with the Nursing Council after the institution shut down following the first-year examinations. Any remaining funds will be utilised for the council’s developmental work.

The directions came while hearing a petition filed by two students who alleged that their college abruptly suspended classes after the first-year results, citing insufficient enrolment.

The students told the court they had paid Rs 3 lakh each for the course and that their complaints to the council had gone unanswered.

During the hearing, Justice Basu observed that nursing colleges appeared to have mushroomed across the state without proper records of their opening or closure, leaving the careers of students uncertain.

The trustees appeared before the court and admitted their inability to continue running the college with a low number of students.