New Delhi
Faced with “incessant disputes” over inspection of private medical colleges by the Medical Council of India (MCI), the Supreme Court has asked former UIDAI Chairman and technocrat Nandan Nilekani to examine if a computer network-based technological solution was possible for such inspections.

“We…request Nandan Nilekani to go into this problem and give concrete suggestions to this court at the earliest… Nilekani is at liberty to take technical assistance from various IT companies viz.,Wipro, Infosis, Accenture, etc., for making suggestions to this court,” said a Bench headed by Justice SA Bobde on Wednesday.

The Bench which also included Justice LN Rao passed the order after amicus curiae senior advocate Kapil Sibal suggested that a computer network-based technological solution, which may include artificial intelligence, would be needed to solve the problem.

As Sibal said an expert like Nilekani a co-founder of IT major Infosys could be appointed to look into this aspect, MCI counsel Gaurav Sharma supported his suggestion.

The order came during hearing of a petition filed by Azhar Medical College and Super Speciality Hospital of Kerala questioning the MCI’s inspection report.

Inspection of private medical colleges has been a controversial issue and invariably the MCI team’s inspection reports have been challenged in high courts and the Supreme Court.

“There are incessant disputes that reach this court about what actually transpired at inspections of various private medical colleges by the Medical Council of India . The parties contest virtually every fact that is recorded in an inspection,” noted the Bench.