The National Medical Commission (NMC) has withdrawn the permission granted to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence in Reasi, Jammu and Kashmir, to run an MBBS course with 50 seats for the academic year 2025–26. The decision comes amid a recent controversy over the admission of 46 Muslim students out of a total of 50 in the first batch of the medical college.

The NMC took this step after receiving multiple complaints against the institution, raising serious concerns about its infrastructure and academic readiness. According to the commission, continuing the college under such conditions would have affected the quality of medical education and harmed students’ academic interests.

The Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of the NMC had earlier issued public notices on December 5, 2024, and December 19, 2024, inviting applications for the establishment of new medical colleges for the academic year 2025–26. Following these notices, the NMC received several applications, including one from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence.

“Pursuant to the said notices, the NMC received an application for the establishment of a new medical college, namely Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence, along with several other applications,” the NMC said in its letter.

The commission stated that it followed the required process before granting permission. “After following the due process, including scrutiny of documents and physical inspection by expert assessors, the MARB granted a LoP to the said college. Accordingly, admissions were made by the institution,” the letter read.

However, the situation changed after the NMC received several complaints over the last two weeks. These complaints included “serious allegations against the institution, inter alia, regarding inadequate infrastructure, insufficient clinical material, shortage of qualified full-time teaching faculty and inadequate number of resident doctors,” the commission noted.

In response to these complaints, the MARB decided to carry out a surprise inspection. “The MARB decided to conduct a surprise physical inspection to verify the veracity of the complaints,” the NMC said.

The findings of the inspection confirmed the allegations. “The assessment report submitted by the team established that the complaints were true and substantiated. The deficiencies observed were gross and substantial in nature,” the commission stated.

Based on these findings, the NMC decided to withdraw the Letter of Permission granted to the college. The commission said that allowing the college to function in such circumstances would not have been in the interest of students. “Continuation of the institution under such circumstances would have seriously jeopardised the quality of medical education and adversely affected the academic interests of the students,” the NMC said.

Addressing concerns about students who were already admitted, the commission said steps were being taken to protect them. “To safeguard the interests of the students already admitted for the academic year 2025–26, the state/UT authorities have been authorised to accommodate such students in other medical institutions within the union territory, as supernumerary seats, in accordance with applicable norms,” the NMC concluded.

The withdrawal of permission comes at a time when the medical college has been at the centre of a political and social controversy. The issue arose after it was revealed that 46 Muslim students had been admitted out of 50 seats in the first MBBS batch. This led to protests by locals and various Hindu organisations.

These groups demanded reservations for Hindu candidates, arguing that the medical college was built and largely funded through donations made by Hindu devotees at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.

Earlier on the same day, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah addressed the issue and asked the BJP-led central government to adjust the students to other medical colleges and shut down the newly opened institution to end the controversy.

Omar Abdullah accused the BJP of indulging in communal politics. He said, “The children passed exams and secured seats through their hard work. None did any favour to them. If you don’t want them there then adjust them somewhere else.”

He further said that students themselves may not want to study in such an environment. “In the given scenario, I don’t feel that students themselves would like to study there. We request the GOI and the health ministry to adjust these children in other colleges. Had I been a parent of these students, I wouldn’t have sent them. We wouldn’t want them to study where there’s so much politics,” he added.

The Chief Minister also strongly suggested closing the institution. “Give our children another medical college and close that medical college (Vaishno Devi). We don’t need such a medical college. Adjust these children in good government medical colleges,” he asserted.

When asked about BJP senior leader and MLA Sham Lal Sharma’s demand to make Jammu a separate state, Omar Abdullah responded sarcastically. “They have already ruined Ladakh by separating it from J&K. Now, if they want to make Jammu a separate state, then who is stopping them. They should have done it in 2019 itself when they were doing all this (revocation of Article 370 and bifurcation of J&K into two UTs),” he said.

The issue continues to draw attention as authorities work to relocate the affected students and address the broader concerns surrounding the medical college.