Endorsing a Parliamentary Standing Committee report of March 2016 that medical education and profession in the country is at its 'lowest ebb' and suffering from 'total system failure' due to corruption and decay, the Supreme Court has used its rare and extraordinary powers under the Constitution to set up a three-member committee, headed by a former Chief Justice of India, to oversee the functioning of the Medical Council of India (MCI) for at least a year. A Constitution Bench, led by a Justice in a 165-page judgment, said that the apex court was constrained to exercise its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution as the government had not acted on the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare.
Its report on 'The functioning of the Medical Council of India, was tabled in Parliament on March 8, 2016. The judgment referred to the…
