Act 020 of 2012 : Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 2012

Preamble

Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 20121

[Act 20 of 2012, Repealed by Act 23 of 2016*][12th May, 2012]

An Act further to amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-third Year of the Republic of India as follows-

1 Received the assent of the President on May 12, 2012 and published in the Gazette of India, Extra., Part II, Section 1, dated 12th May, 2012, pp. 1-2, No. 22

* Ed.: Act 20 of 2012 repealed by Act 23 of 2016, S. 2 & Sch. I. See also S. 4 of the Repealing and Amending Act, 2016:

"4. Savings.- The repeal by this Act of any enactment shall not affect any other enactment in which the repealed enactment has been applied, incorporated or referred to;

and this Act shall not affect the validity, invalidity, effect or consequences of anything already done or suffered, or any right, title, obligation or liability already acquired, accrued or incurred, or any remedy or proceeding in respect thereof, or any release or discharge of or from any debt, penalty, obligation, liability, claim or demand, or any indemnity already granted, or the proof of any past act or thing;

nor shall this Act affect any principle or rule of law, or established jurisdiction, form or course of pleading, practice or procedure, or existing usage, custom, privilege, restriction, exemption, office or appointment, notwithstanding that the same respectively may have been in any manner affirmed or recognised or derived by, in or from any enactment hereby repealed;

nor shall the repeal by this Act of any enactment revive or restore any jurisdiction, office, custom, liability, right, title, privilege, restriction, exemption, usage, practice, procedure or other matter or thing not now existing or in force."

SOR Statement of Objects and Reasons

Prefatory Note-Statement of Objects and Reasons.-The Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 was enacted for the purpose of reconstituting the Medical Council of India and to provide for the maintenance of the Indian Medical Register and for matters connected therewith. The Act was amended, inter alia, by the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 2010 superseding the Medical Council of India for one year with effect from 15th May, 2010 and providing for the constitution of a Board of Governors of not more than seven persons to exercise the powers and to perform the functions of the Council under the said Act. Subsequently the said Act was again amended in 2011 through the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 2011 and the term of Board of Governors extended for another period of one year, i.e., up to 14th May, 2012. As per the provisions contained in sub-section (2) of Section 3-A, as inserted by the amending Act of 2011, the Council had to be reconstituted within a period of two years from the date of its supersession, that is latest by 14th May, 2012.

2. Meanwhile, the Central Government initiated a proposal to set up a National Commission for Human Resources for Health as an overarching regulatory body which would subsume certain Councils like the Medical Council of India and the Dental Council of India in it. Accordingly, the National Commission for Human Resources for Health Bill, 2011 has been introduced in Rajya Sabha and is currently being examined by the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare.

3. As the entire process for enacting the proposed legislation to set up a National Commission for Human Resources for Health will take some more time and the term of the Board of Governors constituted under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, as amended by the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 2011, is coming to an end on 14th May, 2012, immediate action is required to be taken before the said date. In view of the above circumstances, it is considered necessary and expedient to increase the period of reconstitution of the Council from two years to three years, thereby automatically increasing the term of office of the Board of Governors by one more year. Therefore, the Medical Council of India could be reconstituted or any overarching regulatory body could be established within the aforesaid extended period.

4. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects.

Section 1. Short title and commencement

1. Short title and commencement.-(1) This Act may be called the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 2012.

(2) It shall come into force on the 15th day of May, 2012.

Section 2. Amendment of Section 3-A of Act 102 of 1956

2. Amendment of Section 3-A of Act 102 of 1956.-In Section 3-A of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, in sub-section (2), for the words "two years", the words "three years" shall be substituted.

SECTIONS