SC appointed RM Lodha-panel to reform Medical Council of India

After fixing the country’s cricket board, former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha gets the responsibility to reform the Medical Council of India (MCI), which the Supreme Court described as unprofessional. The top court appointed a three-member panel headed by Lodha to oversee how the regulator of medical profession and education in India functions. Besides Lodha, the panel has former CAG Vinod Rai and Dr SK Sareen.

Lodha headed a three-member panel appointed by the top court to look into the 2013 betting scandal in the Indian Premier league (IPL) and the functioning of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). IPL teams Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings were kicked out for two seasons on his panel’s recommendations. It also suggested changes in the world’s richest cricket board to improve transparency and weed out corruption.

The court appointed the Lodha panel to oversee the MCI because the regulator is often accused of indulging in corrupt practices. It referred to reports of a government panel and a parliamentary standing committee that indicted the MCI for various malpractices. The bench has upheld the Madhya Pradesh government’s 2007 order to conduct a common entrance test for all government and private medical and dental colleges. The unaided private colleges had challenged the order.

The court said private medical colleges cannot be given the unfettered right to devise their own admission procedure and fee structure because it will “impinge upon the right to equality of students”.


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