The High Court of Karnataka has ordered issue of notice to the State government on a PIL petition, which has complained that failure of the government to nominate five members to the Karnataka Medical Council (KMC) has enabled illegal continuation of two persons as president and vice-president from amongst earlier elected members despite election of 12 new members to the KMC.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice N.V. Anjaria and Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the order on the petition filed by Srinivasa B. Kakkilaya, a medical practitioner from Mangaluru.
It was pointed out in the petition that 12 members elected from the elections held on January 23, 2020 finally assumed office as member of the KMC on November 27, 2023 due to protracted litigation over the legality of conduction of elections.
However, the newly elected 12 members could not complete the process of electing new president and vice-president amongst themselves as the government has not nominated five members, under Section 3(2)(C) of the KMC Act, who are also eligible to contest for the post of president and vice-president, it has been complained in the petition.
Because the 12 newly assumed elected members were not able to elect the president and vice-president amongst themselves, the member, Kanchi Pralhad V. and Nagaraj Annegowda, who were elected from 2011 elections, are still holding on to the office of the president and vice-president illegally when they have ceased to be the members of the KMC after assumption of new members.
These two persons are illegally continuing in the post of president and vice-president citing that the new persons to hold these posts are not yet elected, the petitioner has alleged while seeking a direction to them to step down from their respective posts immediately.
