Madras High Court Directs State To Ensure That Persons Holding Diploma In Siddha Medicine Do Not Practice It

“If any of these students are practicing Siddha with these Certificates, it would definitely play havoc on the society. Already we are witnessing several cases regarding quacks. Therefore, the respondents 1 & 2, in co-ordination with the fifth respondent / Tamil University, shall ensure that nobody is practicing Siddha Medicine, throughout the State, using the Diploma in Siddha Medicine certificate issued by the fifth respondent University,” the court said.

Justice B Pugalendhi was hearing a petition filed by K Jayakumar, claiming to be a doctor practicing Siddha Medicine seeking directions to the police not to harass him or interfere with him running the Siddha clinic.

Jayakumar submitted that he had a diploma certificate in Siddha Medicine issued by the Tamil University in Tanjore. He submitted that he was running the Siddha clinic in 2008 after getting the diploma. He contended that persons, who were practicing allopathy medicine had foisted false complaints against him in which he was eventually acquitted. Later, another case was registered in 2023 in which he was arrested and enlarged on bail.

Jayakumar submitted that he was practicing Siddha for the welfare of the people without involving any allopathy medicine and he was subjected to continuous harassment and threats at the instance of Allopathy doctors who were preventing him from practicing Siddha medicine.

The Government Advocate informed the court that the case against Jayakumar was for running a clinic and giving allopathy medicine without proper educational qualifications. He also submitted that as per earlier orders of the Madras High Court in a public interest litigation, Tamil University could not conduct a Diploma in Siddha Medicine as it did not have the required faculty to teach.

When the court sought a status report from the University, the Registrar informed the court that the course offered in the University was only a Diploma to provide awareness about Siddha medicine among the public and it could not be used for practicing Siddha medicine. The Registrar also informed the court that the course, which was started in 2007 was discontinued in 2008 itself and only one batch of 878 students had enrolled in the diploma of which 744 cleared the exam and 576 obtained the mark sheet and course certificate.

The registrar also informed the court that the certificate relied by Jayakumar for practicing Siddha medicine was a forged one as the original certificate clearly stated that the diploma was not recognized to practice as a Siddha doctor which was missing in Jayakumar's certificate.

On noting the submissions, the court was inclined to not grant the relief prayed for by Jayakumar and directed the police to proceed with the investigation and take appropriate action under law. Further, though the diploma certificate were issued with the endorsement “not for practice”, the court noted that in reality, it was not known how far it was being followed by respective certificate owners. Thus, the court asked the state, government and the police to coordinate with the University and ensure that no diploma holder practices Siddha medicine.

Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr.A.Arun Prasad

Counsel for the Respondent: Mr.P.Kottai Chamy, Government Advocate (Crl. Side), Mr.C.Arul Vadivel @ Sekar Senior Counsel for Mr.K.Sachin Rahul

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 410

Case Title: K Jayakumar v The State of Tamil Nadu and Others

Case No: WP(MD)No.11463 of 2024