More than a year after the
National Dental Commission Act
was passed in Aug 2023 and nearly eight months after the rules for implementing it were notified in March 2024, the commission itself is yet to be constituted. The
Dental Council of India
(DCI) has written to the health ministry seeking its intervention as the tenures of the council’s president and vice president are coming to an end.
The letter to the health secretary dated Nov 13 pointed out that the DCI was still working as per the Dentists Act, 1948 to regulate dental education in the country. The council regulates 323 dental colleges with over 27,600 BDS seats and over 280 colleges with 7,000 post graduate seats.
The current president of the DCI, Dr Dibyendu Mazumder, will complete his five-year membership term on Nov 28 and that of the current vice-president, Dr Satheesh Kumar Reddy is set to expire on Dec 10. As per the existing law, the two will continue on an extended term of six months from the date of completion of their membership term.
The letter pointed out that “as per the directives of the ministry vide its letter dated Dec 26, 2023, the Council has been restrained from entertaining any new membership and accordingly a circular was issued to all constituencies to not nominate/elect new members under section 3 of the Dentists Act, 1948”.
“The executive committee of the DCI under chairmanship of president is the main technical body which looks after the primary work of the council to evaluate proposals and applications of dental colleges and make appropriate recommendations to the central govt. The DCI Regulations, 1956 provides various key administrative powers to the president of the council for smooth functioning of the council,” stated the letter.
The letter stated that the DCI office would soon become headless on completion of tenure of the president and that it would not be possible to run the office smoothly. It urged the central govt to entrust the charge of president to any DCI member until the commission is formed or give the necessary directions to ensure uninterrupted functioning of the DCI during the transition period.
