In order to expedite the process of electing members for Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), Bombay High Court (HC) will hear the case on August 31, 2016 based on a writ petition filed by the MMC which completed its tenure on May 21, 2016.
Following the writ-petition, Bombay HC had asked the Maharashtra government to submit the schedule of elections to pave the way for a democratically elected body for MMC.
The state government has not been able to issue a notification to hold MMC elections despite being given three reminders before the expiry of the present council's tenure. Besides the rumblings in the MMC, the present council elected five years back had fought a two-year court battle with the state government to finally resume in 2011.
Appointment of registrar who happens to be an ayurvedic doctor by the state government contrary to what has been stipulated in the MMC Act has further aggravated the matter, according to officials associated with the development.
Insiders however also pinpoint that the appointment of the registrar without consultation of an elected body of members by the government speaks of its intention to tweak the current MMC law to serve vested interests like promoting crosspathy in the state among other agendas. The delay in notifying elections is primarily meant to sabotage the democratic way of appointing a registrar by elected members of the council in consultation with the government.
The election process takes around 3 months and this is the time the incumbent administrator can wield its powers to grant legal sanction to crosspathy, according to an official.
Meanwhile, MMC is upset over the state government serving notice to them for irregularities in its administration and over the appointment of a registrar who as per the MMC Act is not eligible to run the administration as he already holds the post of a registrar of Maharashtra Council of Indian Medicine (MCIM) in contravention to the provisions of the MMC Act.