Centre to clip bar, medical councils’ wings
Tightening grip
The Centre has proposed to disempower various bodies such as the Bar Council of India (BCI), the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Dental Council of India (DCI), which accord recognition to institutions providing technical and professional education in the country.
The Higher Education and Research Bill, 2010, approved by the Human Resource Development Ministry (HRD) and sent to the Law Ministry for its approval before being introduced in Parliament in the coming session, will take away the powers of all these bodies from monitoring the institutes of higher education.
Apart from the BCI and the MCI, other bodies such as the Council of Architecture, the Indian Nursing Council, the Pharmacy Council of India, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, the Institution of Engineers, the Central Council of Homoeopathy, the Central Council of Indian Medicine, the Rehabilitation Council of India and the Veterinary Council of India will be divested of their powers over the institutes in their respective fields.
The BCI, MCI and DCI are the nodal bodies which accord recognition to institutes which impart LLB, LLM, MBBS, MS, MD, and BDS in the country.
The other council bodies also accord recognition to institutes which impart technical and professional courses.
The recent controversy pertaining to the arrest of former MCI president might have prompted the government to take over the rights of according recognition to these professional institutes.
Law Minister M Veerappa Moily had reprtedly assured the legal fraternity that the Bar Council of India’s interests would be protected and that he would hold discussions with the HRD Ministry to sort out the matter.
According to the draft bill, the authority to accord recognition will be transferred to the universities. These nodal bodies will have the power to prescribe standards of higher education for professional practice.
They will determine eligibility and also conduct licensing examinations to assess the competency of a student emerging from the higher education system for pursuing professional practice.
DH News Service
