Nursing College NOCs: Decide in 45 Days, Not 90, Says Raj HC

Nursing College NOCs to Be Decided in 45 Days as 2024 Guidelines Mandate, Not 90: Rajasthan High Court

Published: 30 October 2026 · NyayVidhan

In eight writ petitions by six petitioners seeking no-objection certificates (NOCs) to establish GNM and B.Sc. Nursing colleges, the State told the Rajasthan High Court that all inspection reports were positive and offered to decide the applications within 90 days (paras 1-3). Noting that statement, the Court directed final decisions within 45 days, as mandated in the guidelines dated 15.10.2024, with NOCs to issue if the decision is favourable, and disposed of the petitions without fixing the outcome (paras 5-8, 10).

Key holdings

All the inspection reports were positive, with no adverse finding, the State told the Court (para 3).

The applications had awaited a decision ‘at the highest level’, taken on 03.10.2026; the State offered 90 days (para 3).

The Court directed a final decision within 45 days from 29.10.2026, as mandated in the guidelines dated 15.10.2024 (para 5).

NOCs are to follow a favourable decision; an adverse order may be challenged under the guidelines (paras 6-7).

The direction does not require a decision in any particular manner (para 10).

Judgment digest by NyayVidhan: a summary of the court's judgment, not its text. The judgment itself is the authoritative version.

Brief Facts

Eight writ petitions under Article 226, led by S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 1504/2026 of Apex Shiksha Samiti (Neowise College of Nursing), were decided by one common order. The petitioner-institutions sought directions to issue NOCs for establishing GNM or B.Sc. Nursing colleges, for 60 or 100 seats where stated, and, in various petitions, copies of the inspection reports, affiliation, inclusion in counselling, allotment of students on vacant seats and permission to run courses in the 2026-27 session (para 1). Their grievance was that the NOCs had not been issued (para 2). The respondents include the State, through its Medical and Health Department, and the Rajasthan Nursing Council, with health-science universities and a private institutions' society in some petitions.

Court's Findings

The Additional Advocate General stated that, in compliance with the order of 09.10.2026, the inspection reports of all the petitioner-institutions had been placed on record; they were positive, and the inspection committees had recorded no adverse finding (para 3). The applications could not be decided while a decision ‘at the highest level’ was pending; that decision was taken on 03.10.2026, and the applications would now be decided within 90 days (para 3). The petitioners pointed to the guidelines dated 15.10.2024, which in their account require the exercise to be completed within 45 days of receipt of the inspection report and remain in force (para 4). In view of the statement that all the reports were positive, the Court directed the respondents to take a final decision on the pending NOC applications within 45 days from the date of the order, ‘as mandated in the guidelines dated 15.10.2024’ (para 5). Favourable decisions are to be followed by NOCs (para 6); against an adverse order, the institutions may use the remedies under the guidelines (para 7). The direction is not a mandate to decide in any particular manner (para 10).

Legal Principle

The order lays down no general rule. On the State's statement that all inspection reports were positive, the Court fixed the 45-day period ‘as mandated in the guidelines dated 15.10.2024’ for deciding the nursing-college NOC applications, instead of the 90 days the State proposed, while leaving the decision on merits to the respondents (paras 3-5, 10).

NyayVidhan's view · Practice note

Why It Matters

For nursing institutions awaiting a State NOC, the order shows the High Court holding the respondents to the time limit in the guidelines dated 15.10.2024 once positive inspection reports were on record: the 90 days offered gave way to the 45 days the guidelines mandate (paras 3-5). Two limits matter. The 45 days run from the date of the order, not from receipt of the inspection reports (paras 4-5), and no particular outcome was directed (para 10); an adverse decision goes to the remedies under the guidelines (para 7). On what the State may demand for such an NOC, see State of Rajasthan v. Private Physiotherapy, Nursing and Paramedical Institution Society: no own 100-bed hospital beyond the INC Regulations.

Editorial comment by the NyayVidhan Editorial Desk. It is not part of the Court's judgment and is not legal advice.