The government has said that time has come to strengthen the existing law for giving approval to medical colleges to make it more transparent and credible. <br/><br/>The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad said this while making a statement in the Rajya Sabha in response to a Calling Attention notice regarding irregularities in the functioning of the Medical Council of India. He said the government has been receiving complaints against the nature of recommendations made by the Medical Council for giving approval to new medical colleges despite inadequate infrastructure and faculty. <br/><br/>The Minister informed the house that the government had introduced a comprehensive bill in August 2005 to amend various provisions of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. However, the amendments were rejected by the Parliamentary Standing Committee. He urged the members to revisit the issue to make the system more clean, accountable and open. <br/><br/>Initiating discussion, Mr. P Rajeev of the CPIM wanted to know whether the government is ready to constitute an enquiry into the alleged corruption while granting permission to open new medical colleges.