The Karnataka High Court has allowed KLE’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC), Belagavi, to admit 200 students to its first-year MBBS course for the 2025-26 academic year, despite allegations of bribery linked to the National Medical Commission (NMC).
A Division Bench of Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar and Justice C.M. Poonacha passed this order on August 29 while hearing a petition filed by KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research, which manages JNMC.
The court said JNMC can admit 200 students this year through ongoing medical counselling. Of these, 188 seats will be filled through the all-India quota and 12 under the State quota.
The Bench relied on a recent Supreme Court ruling in a similar case in Bihar, where it was clarified that just filing an FIR is not enough reason to stop admissions, provided the college has the required facilities and infrastructure.
The bribery case arose after a senior NMC assessor from West Bengal was caught by the CBI while allegedly taking a bribe of ₹10 lakh to increase MBBS seats. Even though the FIR mentioned the role of some individuals, the court noted that JNMC had already corrected the issues earlier pointed out by the NMC and could not be denied admissions on this ground.
At the same time, the High Court clarified that this approval is only for the 2025-26 admissions and does not affect the ongoing CBI investigation, in which some JNMC/KLE officials are named as accused.
Lawyers for KLE also argued that neither JNMC nor KLE Society was directly named in the CBI report or FIR.
Source: The Hindu