Kerala HC ‘Again’ Moots For Unified Legislation For The Medical Practitioners In The State [Read Judgment]

The government has been alarmingly lethargic in taking steps to further the intention of having a unified legislation for the last more than three decades, the bench said.

While dismissing a writ plea filed by a person claiming to be a homeopath, the Kerala High Court has observed that the state government has been alarmingly lethargic in taking steps for a unified legislation for medical practitioners for the last more than three decades.

The petitioner, in this case, had relied on a division bench judgment of the High Court in KHMG Assn. v. State of Kerala. The said case was a public interest litigation filed by an association of qualified homeopaths against permitting unqualified persons from practicing homeopathy. Without interfering much, the court had recorded submission of the state that the Kerala Medical Practitioners Bill, 1996 has been taken up by the Central Government for getting prior clearance for introducing the bill in the State Legislature. The court also took note that such submissions were made by the state before the court in the year 1987 also.

The court also took note that in the Travancore-Cochin area, there is a Register maintained under Section 23(1)(2) of the Travancore-Cochin Medical Practitioners Act, 1953; but in Malabar area, the said enactment was and is not applicable.

The Government has been alarmingly lethargic in taking steps to further the intention of having a unified legislation for the last more than three decades, a bench of Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Ashok Menon said.

However, the bench refused to give relief to the petitioner and observed: “We cannot allow quacks; who survive only on the gullibility of the unsuspecting public, to be let loose to practice medicine, on such technical grounds of the State Government having not maintained a register.”

Referring to certificates produced by the petitioner, the bench observed: “There is no provision by which a Homeopath could issue a certificate of practice under him and mere association with a qualified person cannot confer a right to practice medicine without qualification.”