HARISH GUPTA Vs. U.O.I.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition had impugned a notice dtd. 23/6/2021 issued by the Delhi Medical Council [DMC] convening a meeting on 23/7/2021 of its members for discussion of various matters set out in the agenda including agenda No.4 which dealt with a proposed nomination of a new member to represent the DMC in the Medical Advisory Council [MAC] of the National Medical Commission [Commission].

(2.) The petitioner assails the aforesaid notice in the backdrop of him having been elected as the nominee of the DMC and in turn to represent it in the MAC in terms of the provisions made in Sec. 11(2)(e) of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 [Act]. The petitioner was elected as the nominee of the DMC in a meeting duly convened and held. The name of the petitioner as the nominee of the DMC was also duly notified by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the Union Government on 11/10/2019. It was the assertion of the petitioner that since the aforesaid nomination had been made pursuant to a request made by the Union Government calling upon the DMC to communicate the name of its nominee, the DMC could not have unilaterally withdrawn that nomination. When the writ petition initially came to be entertained, an interim order was passed on 22/7/2021 which provided that in the interim while the DMC may hold the meeting fixed for 23/7/2021 in respect of all agendas including Item No.4, the decision taken in that meeting regarding that particular agenda would not be given effect to. It is that interim order which has continued during the pendency of the present writ petition. By an order of 21/10/2021, the sixth respondent came to be impleaded as a party in these proceedings. That respondent is stated to have been elected as the nominee of the DMC in the meeting held on 23/7/2021. Before proceeding to notice the rival submissions addressed it would be apposite to notice the following undisputed facts.

(3.) On 9/8/2019 the DMC is stated to have received a letter from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the Union Government requesting it to furnish the name of one of its elected members to represent that State Medical Council as a member of the MAC as per the provisions of Sec. 11(2) of the Act. It was in furtherance of the aforesaid communication that the petitioner came to be elected as the nominee on 28/8/2019. The term of the erstwhile DMC on the expiry of the period of 5 years was to come to an end sometime in March 2020. Fresh elections were thereafter held and the petitioner as well as the sixth respondent came to be elected as members of the DMC. The reconstituted DMC was notified by the Health and Family Welfare Department of GNCTD on 8/10/2020. The newly constituted DMC in its meeting of 6/1/2021 is stated to have taken up for consideration the issue of nominating one of its elected members as its nominee in the MAC. The minutes of the meeting of the DMC of that date records that members had unanimously agreed that since the DMC had been reconstituted, the process of selecting a nominee for the MAC may be initiated. It is pursuant to the aforesaid decision taken by the DMC that the impugned notice appears to have been issued. It would be apposite to note that Sec. 4 of the Delhi Medical Council Act, 1997 [1997 Act] prescribes that a member thereof would hold office for a term of five years from the date of publication of the constituted DMC. Sec. 4(4) further provides that the term of office of an outgoing member shall be deemed to extend and expire on the day immediately preceding the day on which the names of successor members are published. Sec. 4 of the 1997 Act is reproduced hereinbelow: