JUDGMENT :

Prayer: Petition filed under Article 226 of The Constitution of India praying to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus to call for the records and quash the proceedings under Ref.No.TNMC/DC No.136/2018 dated 04.05.2021 before the first and second respondents and consequently direct the respondent No.1 to restore the name of the petitioner in the Medical Register of Tamil Nadu Medical Council.

The petitioner calls in question the order dated 04.05.2021 passed by the first respondent, in and by which, he was imposed with the punishment of removal of his name from the medical register of Tamil Nadu Medical Council for two years, with further direction that during such period of deletion of his name from the medical register, he is not entitled to practice Medicine.

2. The case projected in the writ petition is as follows:

2.1 The petitioner completed his M.B.B.S. degree from Madras Medical College and also acquired A.S.T.S. Certified Clinical Fellowship in Transplant Surgery from United States of America. It is also stated that he is a member of F.R.C.S. Ireland, Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and F.R.C.S. England, Royal College of Surgeons of England. It is further stated that he is a registered Medical Practitioner with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council vide Registration No. 38590 in 1984. The petitioner claims to have performed several extensive surgeries including Kidney, Pancreas and small bowel transplantation; and he worked as a Consultant Surgeon in Sri Ramakrishna Hospital, Coimbatore and as Transplant Surgeon in Coimbatore Kidney Centre.

2.2 On 19.10.2018, the third respondent preferred a complaint to the Medical Council of India, alleging that the petitioner herein had issued a fraudulent medical certificate dated 08.10.2015 certifying the medical condition of her father deceased N. Pitchaimani as on 08.10.2015. According to the third respondent, on the basis of such certificate, her brother Mr. Sakthi Kumar had prepared a requisition letter addressed to the Sub-Registrar, Neelangarai and registered a settlement deed by which valuable properties of her father were transferred in his favour. According to the petitioner, the medical certificate dated 08.10.2015 issued by him had allegedly facilitated the execution of the settlement deed in favour of the brother of the third respondent by which a prime properties worth about 50 crores have been alienated fraudulently and therefore, she has given the complaint dated 19.10.2018 against the petitioner.

2.3 On receipt of the complaint dated 19.10.2018, sent through e-mail, the Medical Council of India forwarded it to the first respondent on 14.11.2018 with a request to initiate appropriate action under the provisions of The Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002.

2.4 Pursuant to the same, a disciplinary committee was constituted to conduct an enquiry against the petitioner and others. On the same set of facts, the third respondent also gave a complaint to the Central Crime Branch, Chennai, based on which, a case in Crime No. 374 of 2016 was registered. After investigation, a final report was filed on 25.06.2018 before the learned Judicial Magistrate, Alandur. To quash the same, the petitioner has filed Criminal Original Petition No. 29269 of 2019 before this Court and the same is pending.

2.5 In the meantime, on the basis of the complaint dated 19.10.2018, the first respondent issued a show cause notice dated 28.11.2018 calling upon the petitioner and others to submit their explanation. The petitioner submitted a reply on 11.01.2019 narrating the circumstances which led to the issuance of Medical Certificate. It is his explanation that the medical certificate has been issued with a bonafide intention by adhering to the norms. In his reply, the petitioner also referred to the delay in filing the complaint by the third respondent, three years after he issued a certificate and this delay, according to him, vitiates the entir