NMC Withdraws Medical Education Rules, Keeps Annual Disclosures and Pending Cases

Rules withdrawn, but existing cases continue

India's National Medical Commission (NMC) has withdrawn the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023, which set out institutional fines of up to Rs 1 crore per violation and personal fines of up to Rs 5 lakh for submitting false records. Medical colleges must still file annual disclosures, while earlier decisions, accrued liabilities and pending cases are protected by transition provisions.

The withdrawal notification, dated October 14, 2026, was issued by NMC Secretary Dr Raghav Langer. It takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette. The exact publication date is not specified in the notification details described publicly, making publication, rather than the date printed on the notification, the legal starting point for the change.

The practical result is a division between existing matters and new ones. Pending applications, proceedings, appeals and inquiries continue under the 2023 regulations where applicable, subject to the withdrawal notification. Matters arising on or after withdrawal are governed by the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, and the other statutory and regulatory provisions in force at the relevant time.

For colleges, doctors and students, the change reaches beyond fines. The withdrawn regulations also covered inspections, annual reporting, course renewals, restrictions on admissions and a timetable for challenging regulatory decisions.

What the notification preserves

The NMC has included a transitional and saving clause, a legal provision that keeps specified earlier actions and obligations in place when rules change. It preserves actions already taken, approvals and renewals granted, and orders, decisions and directions issued before withdrawal.

Rights, privileges, obligations and liabilities acquired or incurred under the regulations also remain unaffected. A college with an existing regulatory order therefore needs to consider that order alongside the saving provisions, rather than assume withdrawal has ended its obligations.

Pending matters receive specific protection too. Applications, proceedings, appeals, inquiries and other unfinished matters must continue under the 2023 regulations insofar as applicable and subject to the new notification. This means the old framework retains a role in resolving business already underway.

How the rules began and ended

The NMC's original Gazette regulations were signed by its then secretary, Dr Vipul Aggarwal. They cited sections 10, 24, 25 and 57 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, and took effect when published on September 21, 2023.

The withdrawal invokes the same sections of the NMC Act, together with section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897. That provision concerns the power to amend or rescind notifications and rules. The key dates are:

• September 19, 2023: The NMC issued the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023, under notification F. No. N-P016/1/2023-PGMEB-NMC.
• September 21, 2023: The regulations were published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4, No. 652, and came into force.
• October 14, 2026: The withdrawal notification was dated and issued by Dr Raghav Langer.
• Publication of the withdrawal notification: The withdrawal takes legal effect, establishing the dividing point between earlier matters and those arising afterward.

Which penalties did the framework contain?

The 2023 regulations gave the NMC's boards several responses to failures involving legal requirements, minimum standards or the goals of medical education and practice. They could investigate, require corrections or impose one or more penalties. The rules also allowed colleges a reasonable opportunity to remedy deficiencies.

The institutional sanctions ranged from warnings to measures affecting a college's ability to admit students or expand. They included:

• A fine of up to Rs 1 crore for each violation or omission.
• Withholding accreditation, or withholding and withdrawing it for up to five academic years.
• Recommending a freeze on applications for new courses or additional seats.
• Reducing student intake or stopping admissions to one or more courses.
• Recommending withdrawal of a college's permission to operate.

A college attempting to pressure the undergraduate board, postgraduate board or NMC through individuals or an agency could also face an immediate halt to processing all its applications and requests. These measures could affect both existing teaching operations and plans to grow.

The withdrawal ends this particular framework for new matters. Earlier liabilities and pending proceedings remain subject to the saving provisions, while the NMC Act and other applicable regulations continue to govern colleges.

Annual disclosures remain compulsory

The Annual Disclosure Report (ADR) survives the withdrawal. Medical institutions must continue providing the information required about their faculty, infrastructure and facilities under the NMC Act and applicable regulations.

The NMC's withdrawal notification expressly addresses that continuing duty:

The requirement of furnishing the Annual Disclosure Report (ADR) shall continue to operate in accordance with Section 24(i) and 25(h) of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 and the regulations applicable from time to time.

The ADR gives regulators a recurring account of whether a college has the people, facilities and teaching resources it is required to maintain. Its legal basis extends beyond the withdrawn regulations, which is why colleges must continue filing it.

The NMC is a statutory regulator comprising 33 members and coordinating four autonomous boards. Under the former framework, the Undergraduate Medical Education Board and Post Graduate Medical Education Board assessed disclosures for the institutions within their respective areas. Colleges must now follow the continuing Act, applicable reporting requirements and any further regulations the commission issues.

What inspections were designed to check

The 2023 regulations described a detailed evaluation of what a college actually provided. Inspectors could examine physical infrastructure and whether enough qualified faculty were regularly present for teaching, research and student learning.

They could also assess "clinical material", meaning the patients, illnesses, procedures and investigations through which medical students gain practical experience. The regulations covered patient numbers across specialties, the variety of cases, surgeries, laboratory tests and radiological investigations.

Teaching methods, student assessment, grading and feedback from students were part of the review too. These checks connected a college's formal disclosures with the daily education it delivered: who taught students, what cases they encountered and how their progress was measured.

TeamLease RegTech's regulatory summary also described the provision allowing a board other than the institution's corresponding board to evaluate an ADR independently or jointly. Under the Gazette text, evaluations could include physical or virtual inspections, and colleges had to support them with documents, evidence and statements.

False records still carry legal risks

Faculty members, department heads, deans, directors and doctors were individually covered by the former penalty provision. Anyone in those categories who submitted false declarations, documents or records, including patient records, could face a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh.

The provision addressed conduct such as listing "ghost faculty", meaning teachers shown in records who were not actually providing the required teaching, or using fabricated patient records to present an inaccurate picture of clinical activity. It placed responsibility on individuals submitting information as well as on the institution.

The regulations also provided for professional misconduct action under the medical conduct rules then in force. They expressly allowed the NMC or its education boards to initiate criminal proceedings over false information or fabricated documents under applicable criminal law.

For new matters, the specific Rs 5 lakh penalty under MSMER-2023 falls away with that framework. Professional disciplinary rules and criminal law continue to apply, while liabilities incurred before withdrawal remain protected by the saving clause. A doctor signing a declaration still has a legal responsibility to ensure its accuracy.

What happens to appeals and deadlines?

The withdrawn rules gave an aggrieved college or person 60 days to appeal an order to the NMC, with the prescribed fee. A further appeal to the Central Government was available if the applicant was dissatisfied with the commission's decision or the commission failed to decide within 45 days of receiving the appeal.

The second appeal had to be filed within 30 days of the NMC's order or the expiry of that decision period, as applicable. The Central Government's decision was final under the regulations.

Pending appeals are expressly included among the matters preserved by the withdrawal notification. Their handling continues under the 2023 provisions insofar as applicable and subject to the notification. New disputes fall under the Act and the legal provisions in force when they arise.

The old framework contained operational deadlines too. Colleges generally had 30 days after receiving a request to supply additional ADR information, unless an extension was granted. Boards conducting an independent or joint evaluation had to share the evaluation and its outcome with the other boards and NMC within seven days. Those requirements belonged to the withdrawn framework and must be considered in light of the transition provisions for existing matters.

What changes for colleges and students?

Medical colleges now face two connected tasks: continuing their annual disclosures and identifying which legal framework governs each regulatory matter. An existing renewal, a pending inquiry and a matter arising after withdrawal may follow different routes because the notification preserves earlier actions while directing new matters to the law currently in force.

Students have a direct stake in the preserved approvals and renewals. Under the former regulations, a college meeting the requirements could receive a renewal certificate allowing courses and admissions to continue for the next academic year. The withdrawal expressly protects renewals and approvals already granted.

Admissions and educational standards also remain connected. The former sanctions could reduce seats or stop admissions, while evaluations examined whether students had teachers, facilities and enough clinical experience. The continuing disclosure obligation keeps colleges responsible for reporting the resources on which that training depends.

The central change is therefore in the regulatory machinery. MSMER-2023 no longer supplies the framework for new matters, but annual reporting continues, earlier decisions retain their effect and pending cases have an expressly preserved route to completion.

Key Points

• The NMC has withdrawn the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023, through a notification dated October 14, 2026, effective on Gazette publication.
• The former framework included institutional fines of up to Rs 1 crore per violation and personal fines of up to Rs 5 lakh for false records.
• Earlier actions, approvals, renewals, orders and accrued rights or liabilities remain protected.
• Pending applications, proceedings, appeals and inquiries continue under the 2023 rules where applicable, subject to the notification.
• Annual Disclosure Reports remain compulsory under sections 24(i) and 25(h) of the NMC Act and applicable regulations.
• New matters are governed by the NMC Act and other statutory and regulatory provisions in force at the relevant time.