New Delhi: A Lok Sabha Committee on Subordinate Legislation has expressed significant concern after discovering that critical regulations drafted by the National Medical Commission (NMC) were published without being vetted by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice. In its report titled “Infirmities in the regulations framed under the National Medical Commission Act,” which was tabled during the recently concluded Budget session of Parliament, the committee described the oversight as an “unacceptable occurrence” that bypassed a non-negotiable step in the legislative process. The panel emphasized that vetting is essential to ensure that subordinate legislation is constitutionally sound and free from legal or drafting infirmities.
The committee’s investigation focused on several key documents, including the National Medical Commission (Recognition of Medical Qualifications) Regulations, 2023; the Teachers Eligibility Qualifications in Medical Institutions Regulations, 2022; and the more recent Medical Institutions (Qualifications of Faculty) Regulations, 2025. The panel was “taken aback” to find that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had allowed these regulations to reach the Gazette of India without formal legal scrutiny. Representatives from the Health Ministry reportedly admitted to the lapse during their deposition before the committee, acknowledging that the vetting process had been “missed.”
Subordinate legislation, also known as delegated legislation, consists of the rules and orders framed by the executive branch to implement laws passed by Parliament. The committee warned that because these regulations form the “fulcrum” for executive actions, any minor mistake or legal loophole could lead to serious ramifications and litigation. The report stressed that due diligence is mandatory to weed out vulnerabilities that could compromise the integrity of medical education and institutional functioning across the country.
In its recommendations, the parliamentary panel urged the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to “be alert” and implement strict protocols to ensure such errors do not recur. It mandated that all future subordinate legislations must be thoroughly vetted by the Law Ministry regarding their constitutional and legal validity before being published in the Gazette. The committee concluded that maintaining the standard of drafting is not merely a procedural formality but a critical safeguard against future legal challenges that could arise from poorly constructed regulations.
