Four months after dissolution, Delhi Medical Council yet to be reconstituted

Nearly four months after the Delhi Government dissolved the Delhi Medical Council (DMC), the inquiry committee set up to investigate alleged irregularities in its functioning is “yet to be accepted”, an RTI response accessed by The Tribune has revealed.

According to the Health and Family Welfare Department’s reply to an RTI filed in October, “the desired information is exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act (2005) as the inquiry report is yet to be accepted. The matter is under process.”

The five-member inquiry committee, constituted by the Delhi Health Department in July, is headed by Dr Digvijay Dutta, Medical Superintendent of Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital. Other members include orthopaedic specialist Dr Vivek Kumar Pathak, Joint Director (Planning and Audit) Vijendra Kumar, Deputy Secretary (Administration) Raj Kumar, and Accounts Officer Harish Chandra.

Dr Dutta declined to comment. Dr Girish Tyagi, who had been serving as registrar of the now-dissolved DMC, said he had no update on the matter. Health Department officials Vijendra Kumar and Raj Kumar did not respond to The Tribune’s queries.

Why the DMC was dissolved

The government had dissolved the medical council on June 17 this year following an order issued by Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena. The move came after the Health Department flagged a series of administrative and procedural lapses within the council, including unauthorised extensions of tenure and financial irregularities.

In his order, the L-G noted that the council had extended the tenure of DMC Registrar Dr Girish Tyagi beyond the prescribed retirement age without government approval. Dr Tyagi, who joined the DMC in 2007 and became registrar in 2008, was initially due to retire in 2019 at 60. However, the council later raised the retirement age to 65 and subsequently granted him another year’s extension from December 2024.

The Health Department argued that these extensions were made without requisite authorisation, amounting to an “abuse of powers” under the Delhi Medical Council Act, 1997. The L-G’s order concurred with the department’s recommendation to dissolve the council, while directing the government to reconstitute it within two months.

Dr Tyagi, responding to the allegations earlier, had maintained that the matter of his tenure extension was sub judice and said he had sought approval from the Delhi Government.

The DMC, established in 1998, regulates the practice of modern medicine in the Capital, maintains the register of licensed doctors, and handles complaints of medical negligence. However, since its dissolution, these statutory functions have been stalled. The Director General of Health Services, Dr Vatsala Aggarwal, was temporarily tasked with overseeing the registrar’s responsibilities until the new council was formed.

Despite the L-G’s direction to complete the reconstitution process within two months, no new council has been announced as of November 5. The RTI response suggests the government is yet to act on the inquiry report, leaving several pending cases, ranging from registration renewals to disciplinary hearings, unattended.