KUNAL SAHA Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this writ application the petitioner has, inter alia, prayed for the following reliefs :

(2.) By an order dated 20th May, 2014 this Court directed the parties to exchange their affidavits and observed that the grant of the 'Bangabibhushan' award (hereinafter referred to as the said award) shall be subject to the result of the writ application.

(3.) A brief review of the relevant facts would suffice. The petitioner is a doctor settled in USA and he lost his wife on 25th April, 1998, during a social visit to Calcutta due to medical negligence of the respondent no.2 herein and some other doctors including the authorities of the AMRI Hospital. Aggrieved thereby the petitioner approached the learned State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and also the appropriate criminal forum. The said disputes ultimately went up to the Hon'ble Supreme Court and the criminal appeals were dismissed and as regards the civil appeal, the matter was remitted to the learned National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission for determining the compensation by a common judgment dated 7th August, 2009 in the matter of Malay Kumar Ganguly vs- Dr. Sukumar Mukherjee and others with Kunal Saha (Dr.) vs- Dr. Sukumar Mukherjee and others, 2009 9 SCC 221. Subsequent thereto, the learned Commission delivered a judgment on 21st October, 2011 and the matter again went up to the Hon'ble Supreme Court and was ultimately disposed of by a judgment dated 24th October, 2013 delivered in the case of Balram Prasad vs- Kunal Saha and others, 2014 1 SCC 384 with Civil Appeal Nos. 692, 2866, 731, 858 of 2012. Subsequent thereto, from a newspaper report dated 16th May, 2014, the petitioner came to learn for the first time that the respondent no.2 has been selected to receive the prestigious 'Bangabibhushan' award to be given in a public ceremony scheduled on 20th May, 2014. Shocked by such attempt of the respondent no.1 to glorify the respondent no.2 in sharp contrast to the observations made by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the judgments delivered in the case of Malay Kumar Ganguly and Balram Prasad , the petitioner affirmed the writ application before this Court on 20th May, 2014.