On Monday (July 23), West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) received a major blow as Calcutta High Court Justice Mr. Tapabrata Chakraborty quashed the order passed by the medical council rejecting the nomination of PBT president, Dr. Kunal Saha, to participate in the ongoing council election. Although Dr. Saha’s PIL in 2012 was instrumental to hold council the last election in 2013 where Dr. Saha was also ran as a candidate, his nomination to participate this year’s election was rejected by WBMC on the ground that he wrote his name as “Kunal Saha” and not as “Saha Kunal” as it appeared in his registration certificate and also because he sent the nomination form electronically via email. The HC lambasted WBMC advocate in the court and questioned him whether the council believed that he was a different person because he wrote his first name first. WBMC advocate also raised objection against Dr. Saha’s nomination on the ground that he was only an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) which was also rejected by the court. The court directed WBMC to include Dr. Saha (and another doctor, Dr. Tripti Das, who came before the court with similar allegation) name in the ballot to allow him contest the council election.
Serious allegations of election manipulation were raised by different medical groups in West Bengal against WBMC headed by Dr. Nirmal Maji who is also sitting MLA of the ruling Trinomul-Congress party. In his writ petition, Dr. Saha also raised allegation of deliberate retaliation by Dr. Maji to reject his nomination as Dr. Saha recently brought serious criminal charges against Dr. Maji for “criminal conspiracy” (IPC Section 120b) and “criminal defamation” (IPC Section 500/501). Dr. Maji was indicted and surrendered but released on bail as he awaits the criminal trial to begin. Dr. Saha also raised complaint against Dr. Maji seeking cancellation of his medical registration as he planned to have his pet dog’s dialysis at a premier government hospital in Kolkata using his personal influence. MCI is currently investigating the complaint against Dr. Maji. Although WBMC election has already started through postal ballot, they have to use a new ballot with Dr. Saha’s and Dr. Das’s names as directed by the Calcutta HC. Appearing in-person, Dr. Saha argued his own case before the court yesterday (see news below).
