Plea before Supreme Court against mid-cycle rollout of NCAHP regulations for 2026-27 session

The Federation of Self Financing Technical Institutions (FSFTI) has approached the Supreme Court challenging the mid-cycle rollout of newly notified NCAHP (National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions) regulations for the 2026-27 academic session [Federation of Self-Financing Technical Institutions vs. Union of India].

The plea said around 20,000 students could be affected if two universities do not grant affiliation to institutions offering allied and healthcare profession courses before the August 14 deadline.

A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe issued notice to the Central government on the plea and tagged it with a batch of petitions concerning

The petition said that although the NCAHP Act was enacted in 2021, no regulations have been framed under it in five years, with the sector instead governed through a series of shifting executive circulars.

As an illustration, the counsel for the petitioner pointed to NEET-UG being made mandatory for BPT and BOT courses in January this year, only to be withdrawn barely two months later. Similarly, the minimum land requirement for physiotherapy colleges was cut from 10 acres to 5 acres by a corrigendum issued in July, even as Maharashtra University of Health Sciences independently prescribes just 2 acres for the same course leaving three conflicting norms in force simultaneously.

The plea also said that ten States are yet to constitute functional State Allied and Healthcare Councils.

On the affiliation crisis, the petition explained that IKGPTU (I K Gujral Punjab Technical University) and MRSPTU (Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University), the two universities named as respondents, have refused to grant affiliation to institutions offering allied and healthcare professional courses.

They have taken the position via an affidavit that such courses are governed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) rather than NCAHP, leaving these institutions without any university willing to affiliate them for the 2026-27 academic year.

FSFTI has accordingly sought a direction to both universities to grant immediate affiliation for the current session, along with deferment of the new norms by a year, uniform pan-India implementation from the next session, and a national database of students.

The petition also draws on two related matters before the Court, the latter disposed of by the same Bench in April where the delay in framing regulations was previously flagged as "paralysing the entire process."

Taking note of the urgency, the Court said in its order that notice be issued and the matter be tagged with the pending batch of petitions.

Advocate Meenesh Dubey of Dubey & Chandra Law Chambers appeared for the petitioners.

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