Supreme Court: License Of Doctor Cannot Be Suspended By Court As Penalty In Contempt Proceedings

The Supreme Court n the case Gostho Behari Das V. Dipak Kumar Sanyal & Ors observed and has held that a medical practitioner’s license cannot be suspended as penalty in contempt proceedings.
The Division bench comprising of Justice B R Gavai and Justice Sanjay Karol in the case observed that the medical practitioner guilty of contempt of Court may also be so for professional misconduct but the same would depend on the gravity or nature of the contemptuous conduct of the person in question.
However, they being the separate offences and are distinct from each other, Thus, the former is being regulated by the Contempt of Court Act, 1971 and the latter is under the jurisdiction of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019.
In the present case, an appeal was considered by the Apex Court filed against the judgement of a division bench of the Calcutta High Court wherein the court upheld the various orders of a single bench that suspended the appellant’s medical license as penalty in the contempt proceedings initiated against him.
The case against the applicant being that he had unauthorizedly constructed a structure which deviated from the plans sanctioned by the Siliguri Municipal Corporation.
The Apex Court in the case observed and has noted that the National Medical Commission Act of 2019 governs the issuance, regulation, and suspension of medical practice license in India and the statutory body which is known as the National Medical Commission has the exclusive authority to take disciplinary action against registered medical practitioners for misconduct as defined by the Act. Therefore, the Act itself outlines a co apprehensive mechanism for revoking the license of a registered practitioner in cases of professional misconduct and the process revoking the license which conducts an inquiry and, ensuring a fair hearing for the practitioner before a decision is made.
The Supreme Court in the case observed and has opined that it is trite law that power of contempt must be used by courts judiciously and sparingly:
Accordingly, the appeal was allowed by the Apex Court and has revived the licence of the appellant to practice medicine.
The counsels, Adv. Yashwant Singh, Adv. Ms. Deeksha Tripathi, Adv. Harshit Goel, Adv. Ashish Kumar Pandey, Adv. Adv. Kheyali Singh, AOR appeared for the petitioner.
The counsels, Adv. Anwesha Saha, AOR. Adv. Deborshi Dhar, Adv. Salim Ansari represented the respondent.