High Court Directs State To Revamp "Archaic" Madras Medical Registration Act, Defers TN Medical Council Polls By 3 Months

Justice R Subramaniam directed the State government to revamp the old act within a period of three months and directed the Tamil Nadu Medical Council (TNMC) to defer its elections till that time.

The court was hearing a plea by Dr P Balakrishnan, president of Democratic Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association. The petitioner claimed that election to the TNMC was not being held in a proper manner. It was submitted that TNMC relied on postal ballot system and there were a lot of discrepancies in the manner in which it was being carried out. This would also lead to arbitrariness and foul play, petitioner averred.

The petitioner sought for the election to be conducted in a fair and transparent manner with an option for online voting in 2023.

During the course of the hearing, it was brought to the court's notice that the Council still relied on the "archaic" Act to conduct its elections. As per Section 5(1), the Council was to have 15 members in which one was to be elected by the Senate of the Madras Medical University, one from the Senate of the Andhra University and one to be practicing doctor from the Vishakapatnam Medical College. The court noted that the reference to these was because the Act was formulated prior to the linguistic division of the State. Thus, the court noted that the Act needed a complete revamp.

"How can you conduct elections with such archaic rules? This was for Madras presidency. Change the rules and then conduct elections." the court remarked orally.

Advocate General submitted that the government was considering the issue and sought three months' time to complete the exercise. Taking this into consideration, the court passed the orders.

In the meantime, the court also directed that the present court order will not have an impact on the working of the present office bearers. The court directed them to continue till new rules are framed by the government.

Case Title: Dr P Balakrishnan v The Tamil Nadu Medical Council and others

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 498

Case No: WP No. 28649 of 2022