Drawing flak from the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG) for poor administration, the Dental Council of India (DCI) has now cracked the whip on nearly 70 dental colleges across the country for failing to deposit fees related to inspection, verification and yearly fees to it with some of them defaulting since 2001.
For the first time, the top dental regulator has warned the defaulter colleges to “remit their outstanding inspection/annual fees failing which no further action including their undergraduate/postgraduate or any other inspections shall be conducted for the academic session 2014-2015.”
The initial deadline for payment was September 15, 2013. The sources said that the move has started yielding results since the issue of the circular early September though not at an expected pace. “After we hardened our stand, many colleges have started falling in line and cleared their overdues. But as many as 42 colleges are yet to implement the order,” sources said.
As per the DCI website as on September 26, 2013, the regulator is dealing with as many as 242 cases pertaining to 42 dental colleges from across the States which have not paid their outstanding fee for either periodic inspection by the DCI/change of university/verification of compliance/yearly fee/recognition fee or for all
of these.
In fact, some of the colleges have not paid fees for a considerable period as long as 2000-2001 while there are at least seven colleges which have outstanding dues between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.
last year, the CAG in its report tabled in Parliament had taken exception to the fact that as of March 2011, fees amounting to Rs 7.07 crore were outstanding against such colleges. “There was no mechanism to ensure colleges deposited the fees. Moreover, the DCI has not initiated any action against defaulting colleges,” it said.
The top auditor had come down heavily on the Council’s poor administration and said that it failed to conduct regular inspections meant to ensure continued maintenance of minimum standards in dental education.
It had pointed out to the fact that records of 24 out of 240 recognised dental colleges, established between 1982 and 2007 have not been reviewed since the recognition of the colleges.