RAMESH HARI Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The high order that the petitioner seeks to have a show-cause notice quashed cannot be acceded to. The notice has been issued by the Council of Homoeopathic Medicine, West Bengal on April 23, 2013, citing Rule 15(7) of the relevant Rules and section 24(2)(b) of the West Bengal Homoeopathic System of Medicine Act, 1963.

(2.) The petitioner accepts that for a show-cause notice to be successfully challenged, it has to be established that the notice has been issued without jurisdiction; or, that even if all the statements in the show-cause notice are proceeded against. According to the petitioner, section 24(2)(b) pertains only to the "infamous conduct in professional capacity" of a practitioner registered under the said Act of 1963; and, the cancellation, of a scheduled caste certificate previously issued in favour of a practitioner would not amount to any professional misconduct, far less any infamous conduct in professional capacity.

(3.) The petitioner says that by virtue of the petitioner's surname, the petitioner is entitled to be regarded as a member of a scheduled caste as per the notification issued by the State Government pertaining to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The petitioner asserts that the objection to the petitioner's scheduled caste certificate was on extraneous considerations and the petitioner has challenged the cancellation of the certificate. The petitioner contends that in such circumstances, the enquiry proposed to be conducted by the Council by virtue of the show-cause notice should be arrested.