Dental Council asks 172 errant institutes to follow norms or face ban

Updated on: Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Sending out a stern message to colleges lax on curbing ragging on campuses, the Dental Council of India (DCI) has warned 172 colleges across the country to comply with anti-ragging regulations or face admission ban. Colleges that don’t fall in line by January 19, admissions of undergraduate and postgraduate students will be withheld.

In a letter to errant colleges, the councils officiating secretary S K Ojha asked principals to treat the issue as most urgent and take action within a week. Maharashtra has the highest number of dental colleges (23) yet to comply with the two-year old regulations to curb ragging. Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka have 22 and 21 colleges respectively.

According to the Regulation on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Dental Colleges, 2009, the apex regulator has powers to derecognise colleges, reduce admission capacity, stop admission to courses, withhold renewal of permission of UG and PG courses and even make public the quantum of penalty slapped on them. “At the council, we have a zero tolerance policy to ragging. All college principals were sent letters asking them to show proof of compliance with regulations. We decided to give them one last chance before acting against such colleges. This is the most stringent action initiated so far by any regulator after the Supreme Court verdict,” DCI executive council member Pradeep Shetty told TOI.

Despite the apex court strictures, ragging is rampant across colleges. Between August and September 2010, 248 calls were registered by the toll-free anti-ragging helpline set up by the human resource and development ministry. UP accounted for 65 calls, followed by 32 from West Bengal. There were 10 calls from Karnataka.

Dental Council asks 172 errant institutes to follow norms or face ban

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