DENTISTS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2016 THE DENTISTS
(AMENDMENT) ACT, 2016 [Act No. 40 of 2016] [04th August, 2016] An Act further to
amend the Dentists Act, 1948. Be
it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as
follows:- (1) This Act may be called the Dentists (Amendment)
Act, 2016. (2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on 24th
May, 2016. After section 10C
Preamble - DENTISTS (AMENDMENT) ACT,
2016PREAMBLE
"10D.
Uniform entrance examination for undergraduate and postgraduate level.
There
shall be conducted a uniform entrance examination to all dental educational
institutions at the undergraduate level and post-graduate level through such
designated authority in Hindi, English and such other languages and in such
manner as may be prescribed and the designated authority shall ensure the
conduct of uniform entrance examination in the aforesaid manner:
Provided
that notwithstanding any judgment or order of any court, the provisions of this
section shall not apply, in relation to the uniform entrance examination at the
undergraduate level for the academic year 2016-17 conducted in accordance with
any regulations made under this Act, in respect of the State Government seats
(whether in Government Dental College or in a private Dental College) where
such State has not opted for such examination.".
Section 3 - Amendment of section 20
In section 20 of the principal Act, after clause (h), the
following clause shall be inserted, namely:-
"(ha)
the designated authority, other languages and the manner of conducting of
uniform entrance examination to all dental educational institutions at the
undergraduate level and post-graduate level;".
Section 4 - Repeal and savings
(1) The Dentists (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 (Ord. 5 of
2016) is hereby repealed.
(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any
action taken under the Dentists Act, 1948 (16 of 1948) as amended by the said Ordinance,
shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions
of the said Act, as amended by this Act.
Statement of Objects and Reasons -
DENTISTS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2016
STATEMENT OF OBJECTS
AND REASONS
(1) The Dentists Act, 1948 was enacted for the
regulation of the profession of Dentistry.
(2) The Act confers upon the Dental Council of India
(the Council) the responsibility of maintenance of the highest standards of
dental education throughout the country. In pursuance of the responsibility,
the Council makes its recommendations to the Central Government for matters
related to the courses of study, examination to be undertaken for such
qualifications and inspection of examinations, etc.
(3) In order to conduct a uniform entrance examination
to all dental educational institutions at the undergraduate and post-graduate
level for all candidates, the Council notified the conduct of a single entrance
examination, namely the National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET) by
amending the BDS and MDS Course Regulations, 2007 respectively.
(4) Several Court cases were filed by a number of
Institutions and State Governments of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh against
NEET in various Courts across the country. On the request of the Council, the
said cases were transferred to the Hon'ble Supreme Court. However, the Hon'ble
Supreme Court, vide its order dated 18th July, 2013 had quashed the said
regulations.
(5) Since, the Government was of the firm opinion that
it would be in the larger interest of the society and the students aspiring to
study medicine to have NEET, certain review petitions were filed by the Central
Government and the Council before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The Hon'ble Court
vide its order dated 11th April, 2016 allowed these review petitions and
recalled the judgment dated 18th July, 2013 and directed that matters to be
heard afresh. Further, the Hon'ble Supreme Court vide its orders dated 28th
April, 2016 and 9th May, 2016 in W.P. No. 261/2016 filed by Sankalp Charitable
Trust and Others Vs. Union of the India directed that NEET [Undergraduate]
shall come into effect immediately. It had further directed that All India Pre
Medical Test, 2016 (AIPMT) to be held on 1st May, 2016 shall be Phase-I of NEET
and Phase-II of NEET shall be held on 24th July, 2016 and the combined result
of both the tests shall be declared on 17th August, 2016.
(6) In view of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme
Court, NEET became mandatory for all undergraduate and post-graduate admissions
with immediate effect. However, some State Governments indicated that it would
be in the larger interest of the students' community across the country to hold
NEET for undergraduate admission from the year 2017-18 onwards instead of
2016-17, in the light of the following difficulties being faced by those State
Governments':
(i) State level examinations for admissions have
already been conducted and students will have to appear for a second
examination;
(ii) State examinations are also conducted in regional
languages. It is not appropriate to make all students to take the examination
in Hindi and English, particularly when only two months are left for NEET
Phase-II examination; and
(iii) the syllabi for the State level examinations are
different from the AIPMT, which is going to be the basis for NEET Phase-II
examination.
(7)
It
was accordingly decided to make certain amendments to the Dentists Act, 1948.
Since the Parliament was not in session and immediate action was required to be
taken in the light of representations of the State Governments and exigencies
of the NEET scheduled for 24th July, 2016, the Dentists (Amendment) Ordinance,
2016 was promulgated by the President on the 24th May, 2016.
(8) The Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which seeks to
replace the Dentists (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016, provides for the following,
namely:-
(a) to insert a new section 10D in the Act for
conducting of uniform entrance examination to all dental educational institutions
at the undergraduate level and post-graduate level through such designated
authority in Hindi, English and in such other languages and in such manner as
may be prescribed;
(b) to insert a proviso in the said section so as to
provide that notwithstanding any judgment or order of any court, the provisions
of this section shall not apply, in relation to the uniform entrance
examination at the undergraduate level for the academic year 2016-17 conducted
in accordance with any regulations made under this Act, in respect of the State
Government seats (whether in Government Dental College or in a private Dental
College) where such State has not opted for such examination; and
(c) to amend section 20 of the Act so as to enable the
Council to make regulations for all matters connected with the conduct of
uniform entrance examination.
(9) The Bill seeks to replace the aforesaid Ordinance.