Dr Saif said he was suspended on 9 June without getting the opportunity to present his side, which goes against Regulation 23 of NMC rules.
Dr Saif claimed that the suspension was imposed without granting him an opportunity to be heard. (Supplied)
The Kakatiya Medical College (KMC) in Warangal district of Telangana on Tuesday, 26 September, sent a fresh notice to Dr MA Saif Ali — a second-year PG anaesthesia student — to attend the anti-ragging committee meeting on 29 September to put forth his defence.
Saif was arrested by the police and subsequently suspended by KMC for allegedly ragging and abetting the suicide of a junior student, Dr Dharavath Preethi — a first-year postgraduate student — who died on 26 February.
Telangana High Court’s order. (Supplied)
It may also be noted that the Telangana High Court revoked his suspension, observing that procedures to suspend him were not followed properly.
The KMC suspended him on 9 June without apparently allowing him an opportunity to present his side, which went against Regulation No 23 of the National Medical Commission (Prevention and Prohibition of Ragging in Medical Colleges and Institutions) Regulations of 2021.
However, the court said in its order that the college could proceed afresh in the matter if it intended to do so by duly following the principles of natural justice by providing reasonable opportunity to the petitioner and “following the procedural guidelines prescribed in the National Medical Commission (Prevention and Prohibition of Ragging in Medical Colleges/Institutions) Regulations, 2021, the governing Act as on date and in particular Regulation 23.”
On 11 September, the high court set aside the suspension of Saif. He subsequently tried to rejoin the college on 13 September.
However, KMC Principal Dr Divvela Mohandas denied him entry by saying that the college had not received the original court order.
Saif’s lawyer Srikanth Chintala promptly filed a contempt of court petition following this.
The Telangana High Court on Monday directed the KMC principal to comply with its 11 September order and allow the postgraduate student to rejoin the course.
“Saif will be rejoining the college after lunch today. Now, we have to see whether the college will admit him or not,” his lawyer told South First on Tuesday morning.
However, by Tuesday afternoon, the college issued Saif a notice to be present before the anti-ragging committee on 29 September.
Notice issued to Dr Saif by KMC. (Supplied)
“You are hereby requested to attend before the anti-ragging committee to present your explanation to the subject cited above at 12.30 pm on 29 September, 2023, failing which, it will be construed that you have nothing to offer in your defence,” read the notice.
Reacting to this, Chintala told South First, “The college is playing with his rights. He is entitled to an education.”
He added: “The same court, which said respondents could proceed afresh in the matter, also said that the suspension had been revoked. It implies that the college first needs to let him attend the classes and then do its internal inquiry. But this suggests that the decision by KMC had already been made.”
He added that the college had suspended him arbitrarily, without conducting a proper inquiry and applying the 2009 NMC guidelines instead of the 2021 ones.
“They also filed a false deposition in court. Even the Supreme Court has said that an accused is innocent until proven guilty. The KMC is covering its own faults this way to escape contempt of court. It has not followed the mandatory clause in the order but the optional clause,” noted Chintala.
While hearing a contempt of court petition, the Telangana High Court on Monday directed the KMC principal to comply with its 11 September order and allow Saif Ali to rejoin the course.
A contempt of court case was filed against Mohandas in the Court on 22 September for not allowing Saif to rejoin classes.
The high court set aside the suspension of Dr MA Saif Ali on 11 September. His counsel moved the contempt of court petition after the college refused to allow him to rejoin the course.
Chintala said his client first went to the college on 13 September but the “contemnor” (principal) denied him permission, stating that he had not received a copy of the court’s order.
“My client again approached the principal on 20 September, along with the online judgement copy, which was uploaded on the high court’s website on 19 September. But the principal once again deliberately denied him permission to rejoin and said that he should receive the original order from the court directly,” Chintala told South First earlier.
He noted that Saif also informed the principal that the government pleader concerned was present in the court when the judge pronounced the order, setting aside this suspension.
“The judge had read the operative portion of the order in open court, in the presence of standing counsels representing the KMC,” the lawyer stated.
He alleged that the Principal also threatened Saif, stating that he would not be allowed to rejoin irrespective of the number of court orders he might get in his favour.
In his petition filed in the high court seeking revocation of his suspension, Saif said that the KMC extended his suspension on 9 June without allowing him an opportunity to present his side.
The college also ignored his representations dated 28 April, 23 May, and 2 June, which contended that his suspension was illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional, and against the principles of natural justice.
Saif petitioned that he had been falsely implicated in the case of the alleged suicide of Preethi. He claimed that the KMC ragging committee’s findings were biased as he was not allowed to participate in the proceedings or defend himself.
Saif also asserted that the committee’s conclusions were one-sided, vague, false, and in violation of the governing regulations.
“The alleged findings of the ragging committee in its inquiry report are against the principles of natural justice, perverse, contrary to the facts and evidence, and unsustainable in the eye of the law solely on the grounds of being violative of the principles of natural justice, as the petitioner was neither made a party to such proceedings nor given a chance to be heard,” Saif’s petition said.
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