LoP Sunil Sharma lauds NMC decision as ‘historic move’

Jammu, Jan 7: The Leader of Opposition in J&K Legislative Assembly and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sunil Sharma on Wednesday lauded the decision of the National Medical Commission (NMC) to withdraw the Letter of Permission (LoP) granted to SMVDIME, Reasi, for running the MBBS course with 50 seats for the academic year 2025-26 and described it as a “historic move.”

Sharma, in a video statement issued to the press on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, evening, stated that the late January 6 night decision of NMC came after it found serious findings in the survey of its (NMC’s) Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) about non-compliance with minimum standards, leading to the recent surprise inspection of SMVDIME.

“Acting under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, which empowers MARB to conduct surprise evaluations of medical institutions without prior notice, a team of assessors recently carried out an inspection at the college. This inspection formed the basis of the subsequent adverse findings,” he said.

The Leader of Opposition also welcomed the decision of NMC to accommodate all students admitted in SMVDIME during counselling for AY 2025-26 in other medical institutions within J&K as supernumerary seats by the competent authority of the J&K government.

“For this, I extend my gratitude and also on behalf of my party to the Union Health Minister J P Nadda, NMC, and the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to make it happen, respecting the sentiments of those following Sanatan Dharma J&K and across the country, as the college is run by donations by a particular community,” he said.

Sunil Sharma also appreciated the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti (SAVDSS), as a conglomerate of like-minded organisations of J&K, by leading a peaceful movement for the cause, and extended gratitude to it.

However, he criticised Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the National Conference for giving a “Hindu-Muslim” spin to the issue related to the “matter of pure faith.”

“We repeatedly stated that we were not against the meritorious students. We never wanted to jeopardise the future of our meritorious students. It was not a question of Hindus and Muslims. The only point was that the people following Sanatan Dharma wanted their donations to be used only for the propagation of the religion. We wanted a Vedic Research Centre or Gurukul should be established there. But the Chief Minister tried to give it another spin. I believe that the NMC decision has come as a setback to the Chief Minister, who wanted to exploit the situation,” the Leader of Opposition said.

He also shared his happiness that the future of all the students admitted to SMVDIME was safeguarded.

Meanwhile, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti (SMVDSS), in a press conference, also welcomed the NMC decision and expressed gratitude to the central leadership, NMC, and the Lieutenant Governor in particular, for making consistent efforts to resolve the issue as per the aspirations of the people.