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After Raja, another DMK minister courts controversy

NEW DELHI: After A Raja, another DMK member of the central government — the junior minister in health ministry, S Gandhiselvan — appears to have committed an impropriety that could kick up a fresh controversy. Violating the recommendations of the regulator, the Central Council of Indian Medicine as well as the Supreme Court's specific observation on norms, the ministry has allowed around 170 ayurveda and unani medical colleges to continue admitting students despite not fulfilling minimum requirements. Professional college education has become lucrative business in India. The decision to allow these colleges to operate was taken following a single-page order that was issued on July 15 last year. According to documents with TOI, the order was initiated by Gandhiselvan, who appears to have misinterpreted the CCIM's recommendations to relax the norms. The order has come at a time when the Medical Council of India had come under a cloud for similarly watering down norms to allow a mushrooming of sub-standard colleges. The MCI is being probed by the CBI and the then Council chief Ketan Desai has been arrested. Gandhiselvan's order, which reversed the process of de-recognition initiated by CCIM of more than 170 colleges, said: "Conditional permission may be given for the academic year 2010 if the colleges fulfill the conditions like 40% IPD (that is, 40 in-patients on an average daily), 100 OPD (out-patients) per day, and only 80% faculty on the same lines as was done for the academic year 2009-10." In the backdrop of the MCI controversy, and an SC hearing into unani and ayurveda colleges in Maharashtra, CCIM had clarified to the court that nothing less than 100% standards — meaning 100 out-patients per day, 100 in-patients on a daily average and 100% faculty — would qualify for approval to a college. In a letter to the department of ayush in the health ministry, dated May 31, 2010, CCIM said the court had approved CCIM norms and "complimented the mechanisms put in place". Despite this communication, Gandhiselvan diluted the norms just two months later. In fact, he twisted the CCIM recommendations to state that CCIM had set 80% faculty as minimum requirement. The minister did not respond to a detailed questionnaire sent by TOI as far back as September 13, although his office had confirmed its receipt. In his order — which was approved by senior minister Ghulam Nabi Azad — Gandhiselvan said that his recommendation for diluting norms was also based on a letter written to the health ministry by minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises Dinsha Patel, and a representation by the National Federation of Ayurvedic Medical Colleges and Hospitals on behalf of colleges that were not recommended for recognition. In response to a questionnaire to Dinsha Patel, an officer with Patel told TOI that the "minister routinely refers representations received by him.'' He added that a large number of institutes come under the MSME categories which are under his ministry. When it was pointed out that Patel was also the chairman of the Mahagujarat Medical Society, which owns J S Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Nadiad, Gujarat, which has been allowed to increase its student intake without meeting the norms, the officer said, "The minister is known as a Gandhi-vaadi. He does not believe in pressure tactics or any such undue favours." The larger issue of decline in the standards of medical education figured in the Supreme Court on May 19, 2010, when a vacation bench, comprising Justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad, was hearing a case relating to ayurveda colleges in Maharashtra. The CCIM's counsel reported back to the council that the court had made "stinging observations" on the decline. It was this that made the CCIM withdraw its earlier recommendation for relaxing the norms, and tell the health ministry that "100% standards" must be observed while granting permission to colleges.

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