Dental Council executive committee member resigns, says wasn't aware of what was going on

New Delhi: Days after CNN-IBN aired stories of rampant corruption in the Dental Council of India, another Dental Council executive committee member has resigned. Jammu and Kashmir's nominee to the Dental Council Riyaz Faruq has quit.

Dr Faruq told CNN-IBN that he was stepping down as he wasn't aware of what was going on in the executive committee. Last week, CNN-IBN had accessed letters written by the members of Dental Council of India (DCI), raising serious questions against the present Chairman of the Council, Dr Dibyendu Majumdar. In one of the letters, written by a member of the DCI Dr Joseph Issac to the Union Health Ministry, questions the manner in which the Council is being managed to suit private colleges.

A petition was also filed in the Kerala High Court against the DCI chairman Dr Majumdar and others for alleged acts of corruption and impropriety. On January 18, the President of the DCI of Tamil Nadu, Dr Gunaseelan, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for his alleged involvement in a multi-crore scam in private dental colleges across the country.

Dr Riyaz Faruq told CNN-IBN that he was stepping down as he wasn\'t aware of what was going on in the executive committee.

Dr Gunaseelan's aide, Dr Murugesan was caught red handed by the CBI with a bribe Rs 25 lakh in cash, taken from a private dental college, in lieu of permissions being granted for starting a post-graduate course. The arrest was made after the investigating body conducted raids across several places in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

This is not the first time that the DCI is at the centre of a storm. Allegations of similar nature have been made against some members of the Council in the past.

The allegations have always been related to either increasing seats in colleges or showing enough faculty members, even if it is just on paper. CNN-IBN has been reporting on flaws within the Dental Council for almost three years now.

When a specific complaint was made before the Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in May 2012, he had promised that the matter will be looked into and some action will be taken. However, nothing has been done till now.

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