Anti-graft activists seek probe into corruption in Dental Council

Dental Council of India (DCI) president Dibyendu Mazumder is occupying the post illegally and has  failed to check several cases of corruption in the DCI, charged anti-corruption activists here on Friday.

The DCI regulates the standard of dental education in more than 300 dental colleges across the country.

Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, at a press conference, sought the health ministry’s intervention to institute a probe against the DCI office bearers and supersede the body with a credible Board of Governors as done with the Medical Council of India. The very appointment of the president tops the list of malpractices in the Council.

While the illegalities involved in Mazumder's selection and continuation as the DCI president was known to the health ministry for years, there was little action on ground, he said.

Letter questions

On July 29 last, the union health secretary wrote to  Jharkhand Chief Secretary asking how Jharkhand allowed Mazumder to become a visiting professor of Vananchal Dental College, Garhwa without the permission of West Bengal government.

Mazumder is a full-time professor in WB’s health services. Mazumder also took up a teaching position at the Nilambar-Pitambar University, Palamu, which does not have a dental faculty and returned to the DCI from Jharkhand in violation of rules.

West Bengal government in 2012 had refused to send him to the Council. Jharkhand government has not responded to two letters from the health ministry regarding Mazumder, while West Bengal government is contemplating departmental action.

“A petition against some DCI members for accepting bribe is pending in the Kerala High Court since 2012 while a Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Delhi High Court in 2015 against 26 doctors being illegally accommodated in the DCI. The list includes Mazumder,” Shaji K Joseph, a DCI member who filed the Kerala case, told DH.