NEW DELHI: The Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India (MCI) has extended, from June 15 to July 15, the date for consideration of giving the Letter of Permission for new colleges and renewal of permission for colleges already approved under Section 10A of the MCI Act 1956.

The Board has been evaluating 87 recommendations made by the erstwhile MCI regarding the renewal of permission/setting up of new colleges/recognition of institutions.

In a letter to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Board said it took over the functions of the MCI only on May 24 and did not have enough time to evaluate the proposals received from the Council through the Ministry for the academic year 2010-11 with respect to undergraduate courses.

Appreciating the concern expressed by the Board, the Ministry agreed to its proposal and extended the date for grant of permission for undergraduate courses for the academic session 2010-11 with regard to pending cases under Section 10A of MCI Act 1956.

However, the extension is applicable only for the academic session 2010-11 as an exceptional case.The Board has been requested to give wide publicity to the decision for the benefit of medical colleges and the general public.

The Ministry has also clarified to the Board that as far as postgraduate courses in the broad-speciality are concerned, the last date for grant of permission for the academic year 2010-11 already ended on March 31 and no further extension was possible. However, with regard to postgraduate medical courses in the super-speciality, the last date for grant of permission continues to be July 15 for the academic year 2010-11 as per existing regulations.