National Medical Commission: MSMER-2023 withdrawn, ADR retained

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has withdrawn the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023, while retaining annual disclosure reporting and protecting earlier regulatory actions. The notification, dated 14 October 2026 in New Delhi, appears in the Gazette of India issue dated 16 October 2026 and takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette.^[1]

For medical institutions, the withdrawal does not erase existing obligations or automatically cancel approvals. The notification preserves specified decisions, rights and liabilities arising under the withdrawn regulations. It also separates the treatment of matters already pending from those arising on or after de-notification.^[1]

The notification and its effective date

The instrument is numbered F. No. Legal/NMC/Misc/2026/22 and is signed by NMC Secretary Dr. Raghav Langer. It withdraws the regulations commonly abbreviated as MSMER-2023, originally notified on 19 September 2023 and published in the Gazette on 21 September 2023.^[1]

The Commission cites Sections 10, 24, 25 and 57 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, read with Section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, as its authority for the action. These are the statutory provisions invoked in the notification; the instrument does not set out their full text.^[1]

Although its opening clause uses the words “with immediate effect”, clause 4 specifies the commencement point: publication in the Official Gazette. The notification date and the date printed on the Gazette issue are therefore distinct. The operative wording ties commencement to publication, rather than merely to the date on which the notification was signed.^[1]

Annual disclosure reports remain required

Clause 2 expressly retains the Annual Disclosure Report, or ADR, requirement. An ADR is the annual report that institutions must furnish under the applicable disclosure framework. Its continuation is stated separately from the provisions protecting earlier actions and pending matters.^[1]

The NMC says the reporting requirement will continue under Sections 24(i) and 25(h) of the NMC Act, 2019, together with regulations applicable from time to time. This means the notification does not provide an exemption from annual reporting merely because MSMER-2023 has been withdrawn.^[1]

The document does not prescribe a fresh filing deadline, introduce a reporting format or describe the information to be submitted. It preserves the requirement and identifies its legal basis, leaving the reporting particulars to the applicable framework. The distinction is between withdrawing this set of regulations and ending disclosure duties: the notification does the former, not the latter.^[1]

Earlier decisions and liabilities are preserved

The notification contains a transitional and saving clause. In this document, that means provisions explaining what survives the withdrawal and how unfinished matters will be handled.^[1]

Its protection extends first to actions duly taken, or purported to have been taken, under the regulations before de-notification. It separately covers approvals, renewals, orders, decisions and directions duly granted, issued or made before that point. Withdrawal is therefore not, by itself, a cancellation of those earlier regulatory steps.^[1]

The clause also preserves rights and privileges already acquired or accrued, alongside obligations and liabilities already incurred. This protection operates on both sides of the regulatory relationship: benefits arising under the earlier framework are not removed solely by de-notification, and responsibilities arising under it are not extinguished solely for that reason.^[1]

These provisions concern the effect of withdrawing the regulations. They do not announce fresh approvals, renew existing permissions or decide the merits of an individual dispute. The notification preserves the specified earlier actions and legal consequences rather than substituting new decisions for them.^[1]

Pending matters follow a different route from new matters

Applications, proceedings, appeals, inquiries and other matters pending immediately before de-notification are expressly covered. The NMC says they shall continue and be disposed of under the withdrawn regulations, insofar as those provisions remain applicable and subject to the new notification.^[1]

That qualification matters. The notification does not say every provision of MSMER-2023 will apply without exception to every pending matter. Nor does it say unfinished proceedings lapse when the regulations are withdrawn. It provides for their continuation within the limits stated in the saving clause.^[1]

For matters arising on or after de-notification, the stated framework is the NMC Act, 2019, and the statutory and regulatory provisions in force at the relevant time. The dividing line is thus whether a matter was already pending immediately before withdrawal or arose on or after it, rather than simply when an authority eventually decides it.^[1]

Withdrawal concerns a named set of regulations

The NMC’s rules index lists MSMER-2023 separately from the Graduate Medical Education Regulations, the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations and regulations concerning recognition of medical qualifications. These are distinct entries, not interchangeable names for one instrument.^[2]

The Gazette notification specifically de-notifies MSMER-2023. It does not announce the withdrawal of every medical education regulation or set out a replacement code. It also gives no reason for withdrawing this instrument and no timetable for issuing replacement regulations.^[1]

References

1. National Medical Commission. Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023 – De-notification. Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4, No. 624. 16 October 2026.
2. National Medical Commission. Rules and Regulation, NMC.