In a significant order that will help eradicate fake faculty members in private medical colleges, the Central Information Commission has directed the Medical Council of India (MCI) to furnish details of faculty members, their designations and their joining dates on its website and update the information every quarter.

Puducherry Government Medical Officers’ Association general secretary Dr K Sudhakar had filed an application under the RTI Act with the MCI public information officer (PIO) seeking details about faculty members in nine private medical colleges in Puducherry.

Unsatisfied with the reply given by the PIO, Sudhakar filed an appeal with the first appellate authority, which failed to pass an order within the stipulated time. Sudhakar then approached the CIC.

Central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, who heard the case through videoconferencing, ordered the MCI to furnish names of faculty members, their designations and joining dates on its website and update the information every quarter.

“This is a landmark judgment and a victory to our fight to expose fraudulent practices adopted by private medical colleges. MCI has now uploaded all the details. The association has begun the process of identifying the fake faculty members and will submit the list to MCI,” Sudhakar told TOI.

He said private medical colleges include successful doctors who do private practice as faculty members and ask them to be present in colleges only during inspections by MCI.