High Court of DelhiW.P.(C)/18947/2025

Vishveshwarya Group Of Institutions v. Pharmacy Council Of India

2026-02-27Hon'Ble Mr. Justice Jasmeet Singh7 pages

$~118 *

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

+ W.P.(C) 18947/2025 & CM APPL. 4472/2026 VISHVESHWARYA GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS .....Petitioner Through:

Mr. Sanjay Sharawat, Sr. Adv. with Mr. Chandrashekhar Singh, Mr.

Ayush Aanand, Advs.

versus PHARMACY COUNCIL OF INDIA .....Respondent Through:

Mr. Ajay Kumar Singh, Mr. Divyansh Singh, Advs.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASMEET SINGH

O R D E R

% 27.02.2026 1.

This is a writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking the following prayers:

"a) quash the decision letter dated 14.11.2025 issued by Respondent, whereby it has rejected the Petitioner's Application seeking Extension of Approval for the D. Pharm and B. Pharm courses for session 2025-26; and b) direct the Respondent, to consequently grant extension of approval to Petitioner institution for the aforesaid D. Pharm and B. pharm courses, for the academic session 2026-27;..."

The decision dated 14.11.2025 shows blatant and malafide misuse/ abuse of the process of law vide which the petitioner's application for D. Pharm and B. pharm courses for the year 2025-26 has been rejected.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

The brief facts of the case are that the petitioner is an institution running since 2005 and has approvals for running D. Pharm and B. pharm courses.

The respondent invited applications from the institutions for approval/ extension of approval of new and existing courses. Accordingly, in January, 2025, the petitioner applied for extension of approval of its B. Pharm and D. Pharm for academic year 2025-26. The respondent reconsidered the application of the petitioner and deputed the inspection team vide letter dated 04.11.2025 and issued a decision letter dated 05.11.2025 wherein the status of the petitioner's institute was shown to be under process. The respondent conducted an inspection on 06.11.2025 and the operative paragraph reads as under: "The institute was inspected on 6th November 2025 as per directives of PCI all details filled by institute on PCI portal was verified and as per observation in mobile app the academic infrastructure 22 faculties available on portal was verified and 12 number of additional faculty were also present other facilities were verified and is found as per norms for b pharm and d pharm as per PCI norms." 5.

Based on the same, the petitioner was issued a show cause notice vide email dated Nil (as per the petitioner, 07.11.2025), besides this, there is no other show cause issued by the respondent. The said email is reproduced as under:

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

Thereafter, the impugned order dated 14.01.2025 was passed, which is reproduced as under:

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

A perusal of the impugned order shows that the application for the year 2025-26 has been rejected on numerous grounds, such as, non availability of Building Completion Certificate, Building Fire Service, Bank Details etc. It is evident from the above show cause notice that neither these grounds were ever put to the petitioner nor any explanation was ever sought from the petitioner, no chance or opportunity was given to the petitioner to explain the said documents. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

The respondent is being an instrumentality of state is required to act fairly and comply with the principles of natural justice. No doubt, the respondent is the authority to decide to allot/ reject, but it cannot be expected that the application of an institution is rejected on the grounds which are totally extraneous to the show cause notice and/ or never put to the petitioner or any answer/ response sought from the petitioner. To my mind, this is a gross violation of principles of natural justice.

For the said reasons, the petition is allowed and as done in W.P.(C) 17984/2025, consequently, the impugned order is set aside. The respondent shall process the application dated January, 2025 for the academic session 2026-27 as per the Schedule fixed by Hon'ble Supreme Court in Miscellaneous Application No. 1409/2025 in Civil Appeal No. 9048/2012, order dated 08.09.2025. 10.

The petition is disposed of in aforesaid terms. 11.

Next date of hearing, i.e 13.03.2026 stands cancelled. JASMEET SINGH, J FEBRUARY 27, 2026/sp The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.