Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Dr. Baijayanti Baur & Ors vs State Of West Bengal & Ors on 30 August, 2022
30.08.2022
10
AN/Ct. No.25
WPA 13684 of 2018
with
CAN 2 of 2022
CAN 3 of 2022
Dr. Baijayanti Baur & ors.
versus
State of West Bengal & ors.
Mr. Kallol Basu
Mr. Suman Banerjee
... for the petitioners
Mr. Sirsanya Bandopadhyay
Mr. Arka Kumar Bag
... for the State
Mr. Saibalendu Bhowmick
Mr. Biplab Guha
Mr. Rajsekhar Basu
Mr. Subrata Bhattachrya
Ms. Srilekha Chattopadhyay
... for respondent 4
In Re: CAN 3 of 2022
This is an application for expunging the name of
respondent no. 13, Dr. Rajib Ganchaudhuryi who, it is
claimed in the application, had died on 07.01.2021. The
said respondent was impleaded as a party respondent in
the instant writ petition as he was a candidate in the
election of the Medical Council. The right to sue against
the said respondent no longer survives and the name of
the said respondent is expunged from the cause title of
this writ petition. Accordingly, the application being CAN
3 of 2022 stands disposed of.
In this writ petition the petitioner has prayed for
issuance of mandamus to command the respondent
authorities to conduct the election of West Bengal Medical
Council, 2018 after preparation and publication of the
final electoral roll in terms of the relevant rules. Attention
of this court is drawn to the judgment and order dated
June 29, 2022 wherein a Coordinate Bench of this Court
in WPA 8140/2022 passed the following directions:
"56. Respondent no. 2, that is, the
State of West Bengal, shall appoint an ad hoc
council, adhering to the relevant provisions of
the Bengal Medical Act, 1914 (as amended till
date) in that regard, for the limited purpose
of conducting the next elections of the
Council and carrying out the essential
functions of the Council, within July 31,
2022. The said ad hoc body will start
functioning on and from August 1, 2022.
57. Till July 31, 2022, the present
council shall exercise only the essential day-
to-day financial and other activities of the
West Bengal Medical Council, but shall not
dispose of, transfer and/or encumber any
asset of the council and/or assets over which
it has powers of disposal statutorily. There
will be no new registration and/or
cancellation of registration of any registered
medical practitioner by the present council
till it stands dissolved. The present council
shall not, till dissolution, take major or policy
decisions in any matter vested in law with
the council.
58. The elections of the West Bengal
Medical Council, as contemplated in Section
4 of the Bengal Medical Act, 1914 (as
amended till date), shall thereafter be
conducted in accordance with law by the ad
hoc Council, under the aegis of the
respondent no. 2-State, as expeditiously as
possible. Keeping in view the volume of work
involved, the outer limit for concluding such
election process, including declaration of
results, is fixed at October 31, 2022.
59. Respondent no. 2 shall complete
the process of nomination of members as
envisaged in Section 4 of the 1914 Act and
ensure that appropriate steps in terms of the
1914 Act are taken so that the formalization
and all necessary paraphernalia regarding
the constitution of the new, duly elected
Medical Council are completed latest by
October 31, 2022.
60. Due notifications will be made
and steps taken for adherence to the above
time-frame, so that the newly-elected council
can start functioning effectively on and from
November 1, 2022.
61. This court does not intend to go
so far as to intrude into the statutorily
delineated domain of the Executive for the
time being, but it is expected that the
Respondent no. 2 and the ad hoc Council
constituted by it shall ensure fair play and
transparency in the entire process of
elections, nominations, and other formalities
for constitution of the new Council, as
directed above and, prior to that, in
appointing the ad hoc Council.
62. It will, however, be open to all
aggrieved parties/stakeholders to challenge
any illegality and/or irregularity in the
ensuing appointment of ad hoc Council
and/or conduct of the West Bengal Medical
Council elections before the appropriate
forum."
It has been uniformly submitted by the learned
counsel for respondent no. 4 and not disputed by the
learned counsel for the petitioner that an appeal against
the aforesaid judgment dated June 29, 2022 passed in
WPA 8140/2022 is pending before the Bench presided over
by the Hon'ble the Chief Justice being MAT 1212 of 2022
and the same is scheduled to be heard on 07.09.2022.
Since the writ petitioner has prayed for conducting
election of the West Bengal Medical Council, 2018 and the
issues relating to the election to the Council is also in
issue in the pending appeal being MAT 1212 of 2022, this
Court is of the view that in order to avoid conflict of
judicial decisions, let this matter be released from the list
of this Bench leaving the parties free to take appropriate
steps in this regard.
(Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, J.)
