Union territories: Administrators get limited dental law powers

The Ministry of Home Affairs has notified a presidential direction authorising the administrators of eight Union territories to exercise specified State Government powers under the National Dental Commission Act, 2023. Notification S.O. 5751(E), dated 22 October 2026, covers sections 29, 48 and 56 of the Act. The administrators will act within their respective territories, subject to the President’s control and further orders.

The direction covers the National Capital Territory of Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry, Chandigarh, Ladakh and Lakshadweep. It expressly applies whether the head of the Union territory administration is designated as Lieutenant Governor or administrator.

The Home Ministry issued the notification under Article 239(1) of the Constitution, the provision invoked for this presidential direction concerning Union territory administration. Its operative wording assigns the administrators both the exercise of powers and the discharge of functions that the dental law places with State Governments under the three specified sections.

In practical terms, the notification identifies which office will perform those statutory roles in the listed Union territories. It does not transfer the National Dental Commission’s powers as a whole, and it does not authorise an administrator to act outside their own territory.

What the notification establishes

The delegation has three express limits: the named statutory provisions, the territorial boundary of each administrator’s authority and the President’s continuing control. The words “until further orders” leave the arrangement without a fixed expiry date in the notification.

Published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (ii), the notification bears the name of P. Manoj Kumar, Joint Secretary. It identifies the National Dental Commission Act, 2023 as Act 21 of 2023.

The order does not reproduce sections 29, 48 and 56. Their full wording is therefore necessary to explain the particular decisions, procedures and safeguards attached to each delegated function; the notification alone does not establish those details. It should not be read as a complete account of administrators’ responsibilities under the dental law.

Nor does the notification itself announce new admission requirements, fees or professional standards. Its operative provision concerns the authority responsible for exercising specified existing statutory powers, rather than setting out new substantive requirements for colleges, students or practising dentists.

The Commission and its regulatory responsibilities

The delegation sits within the regulatory framework established around the National Dental Commission. The New Indian Express reported that the Union Health Ministry announced the Commission’s constitution to replace the Dental Council of India, alongside three autonomous boards with separate responsibilities.

According to the newspaper’s report, the Commission’s remit includes framing regulations to implement the Act, conducting ratings and assessments of dental institutions, evaluating human resources and promoting dental research. Regulations are the detailed rules through which a statutory framework is put into operation.

The New Indian Express also reported that the Commission would frame guidelines for fee regulation in private dental colleges and establish standards for community dental care, education, research and professional ethics. These responsibilities concern the wider dental regulatory system; they are distinct from the limited State Government functions assigned through the Home Ministry’s October notification.

The Union Health Ministry described the Commission’s formation as a move towards a transparent, quality-driven and accountable regulatory framework replacing the earlier elected structure, according to The New Indian Express. That was the ministry’s stated purpose for the institutional reform, not an assessment of its results or a reaction to the Union territory delegation.

The newspaper further reported that the ministry said the Dentists Act, 1948 stood repealed and the Dental Council of India was dissolved with the coming into force of the new framework. Repeal means that an earlier law is removed from force; the report described the replacement of the earlier council by the Commission.

Separate boards for education, assessment and ethics

The three boards divide responsibilities across education, institutional scrutiny and professional conduct. According to The New Indian Express, the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Dental Education Board oversees dental education. The Dental Assessment and Rating Board handles accreditation and institutional assessment, while the Ethics and Dental Registration Board governs professional conduct and dentists’ registration.

In its account of the Commission’s constitution, the newspaper reported the appointment of Dr. Sanjay Tewari as chairperson and Dr. Mousumi Goswami as a part-time member. Arindam Modak was named to head the secretariat as secretary to the Commission.

The New Indian Express reported that Dr. Chandrashekhar Janakiram was appointed president of the education board, with Dr. Shailesh Madhav Lele as its whole-time member and Dr. Nagaraj M as its part-time member.

For the assessment board, the newspaper named Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Nanda Kishore Sahoo as president, Dr. Himanshu Aeran as whole-time member and Dr. Parimala Tyagi as part-time member. It reported the appointment of Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Tapas Kumar Bandyopadhyay and Dr. Usha Hegde as whole-time members of the ethics and registration board, and Dr. Swarga Jyoti Das as its part-time member.

The Home Ministry’s 22 October notification does not alter those board appointments or set a timetable for particular administrative decisions. Its direction is confined to the administrators’ exercise of State Government powers and functions under the three named sections, subject to presidential control.