Today, the Supreme Court directed the authorities to conduct examinations for 962 students who have already completed their postgraduate medical courses but were unable to appear for their final examinations following the derecognition of courses offered by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS), Mumbai.

A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran passed the direction while considering the challenge to the Bombay High Court judgment upholding the derecognition of all postgraduate medical courses conducted by the CPS.

Following the derecognition, petitions were filed before the Supreme Court by different groups of affected students. The Court had earlier requested Attorney General for India R Venkataramani to intervene and help find a “viable solution” to protect the future of the students.

In its order dated November 13, 2025, the Supreme Court had divided the affected students into three categories.

Category I consisted of 852 students enrolled up to the 2022-23 academic year. The Court had allowed these students to appear for their final examinations. Category II comprised students admitted from the 2023-24 academic year onwards, to whom relief was not extended as their admissions were considered unauthorised. The interests of students falling under Category III, who had enrolled before the 2022-23 academic year, were also addressed by the Court.

During today's hearing, Senior Advocates Vikas Singh and Vibha Datta Makhija pointed out that another group of students had completed their courses but were still awaiting their examinations.

The Court treated them as Category IV students and granted them permission to appear for the examinations.

“We have 962 students falling in category IV. They have also completed the course, but all that is left is the examination,” the Bench observed.

The Court said that while it would hear and decide the legal challenge to the Bombay High Court's order on its own merits, the students should not be made to suffer in the meantime.

“However, we firmly believe that students should be relieved from this,” the Court said.

The Bench directed the concerned authority to fix the examination and inform the 962 students about the schedule. It specifically clarified that the students would be permitted to appear for the examination despite any objection from the National Medical Commission (NMC).

The Court further clarified that examinations would be conducted for students belonging to all four categories.

The main matter has been directed to be listed next Wednesday for final hearing. The Supreme Court also ordered that no further admissions be made to the petitioner's college until the Court decides the pending challenge.

The CPS courses were derecognised by the Postgraduate Medical Education Board on August 16, 2024, for allegedly failing to comply with the regulatory framework under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019.

The show-cause notice issued to the CPS stated that the institution considered itself an examination-like body with the authority to conduct examinations and grant medical qualifications. The authorities, however, pointed out that the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences is a government organisation recognised under the NMC Act, while the CPS is a non-government organisation and does not have the authority to permit or recognise medical qualification courses conducted by hospitals or award degrees.

The original PIL was filed by a former President of the Maharashtra Medical Council, who alleged that the courses offered by the CPS were illegal as the necessary permissions had not been obtained. The Bombay High Court subsequently allowed the PIL and upheld the derecognition.

Case Details: College of Physician and Surgeon CPS House v. Suhas Hari Pingle, SLP(C) No. S-13081/2025