Two of them have been removed from the registry for simultaneously serving as the faculty of two medical colleges. The remaining 25 have been penalised for faking as full-time faculty of Melmaruvathur Adiparasakthi Institute of Medical Sciences in Melmaruvathur, Tamil Nadu, to help its management get MCI approval for different medical courses.

The statutory body took serious view of a single college representing 25 teachers as permanent faculty whereas none of them were recruited in full-time capacity.

These erring doctors (including four women) hail from Maharashtra, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Kerala, states which have seen the mushrooming of private medical colleges in the past decade.

Out of the 25 who have been de-listed from the Medical Registry, the majority (10) are from Maharashtra.

Out of the two doctors held guilty by the MCI for acting as "duplicate faculty" against the India Medical Council's code of conduct, one Dr Ajit Kale from Maharashtra was found working as the faculty at MGM Aurangabad and Ahmadnagar Medical Colleges in Maharashtra at the same time.

MCI officials said the other doctor Deepak Kalra was working in Agra Government Medical College and also serving as faculty in Chintpurni Medical College in Pathankot, Punjab.

The MCI has asked the respective state medical councils to remove their names from the state medical registry and finally the Indian Medical Registry for two years each.

During this period, they won't be allowed to practice medicine.

The directions follow a CBI inquiry into the conduct of 35 doctors from all over India found to be misrepresenting facts to pose as full-time faculty of Melmaruvathur Adiparasakthi Institute of Medical Sciences, Tamil Nadu.

These doctors were accused of giving false information regarding their status as permanent faculty at the said college.

The MCI Ethics Committee first issued a showcause notice to all the doctors following which it found them guilty of violating the Medical Code of Ethics.

The Ethics Committee ruled, "After taking into consideration the allegation contained in the CBI report, oral testimony and written statement of 25 doctors, the Committee concludes that the said doctors gave false and misleading information regarding their working in the medical college to the assessors during the college assessment.

These doctors have committed professional misconduct in terms of Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002."

The committee accordingly recommended "the punishment of removal of names of the erring doctors from the Register maintained by the concerned State Medical Councils and subsequently from the Indian Medical Register for a period