Apex court halts voting process over dispute on returning officer’s eligibility, directs state to appoint a new official
The petitioner argued that the returning officer lacked the required rank, prompting SC to put elections on hold. Representation Pic/istock
The Supreme Court on Tuesday put a stay on the much-anticipated Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) election, which was scheduled for Wednesday. The election was set to take place across Maharashtra at 158 polling booths, with almost all preparations completed. The last MMC elections were held in 2016, but the gazette notification to constitute the council was issued only in 2017. The elected members had a five-year tenure that ended in 2022. Since then, the government has been appointing administrators due to the COVID-19 pandemic and later because of national and state elections, causing further delays. Many doctors in the state were eagerly awaiting the MMC election, which was being held nearly three years after its due date.
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The contention
Petitioner Sachin Pawar filed a special leave petition requesting the appointment of a competent returning officer for the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) elections. After the Bombay High Court rejected his plea, he approached the Supreme Court. His senior counsel argued that the appointed returning officer did not meet the required criteria, which mandated that the position be held by someone of at least the rank of an undersecretary to the government. Instead, the role was assigned to the registrar of the Maharashtra Dental Council, who was initially appointed as the in-charge registrar of the MMC and, on the same day, designated as the returning officer. However, her appointment as acting registrar of the MMC was later withdrawn.
The state response
The SC had asked the counsel representing the State of Maharashtra to clarify whether the returning officer held the rank of an undersecretary. In response, he informed the division bench that the returning officer received the same pay scale as an undersecretary. However, he was unable to counter the argument made by the petitioner’s senior counsel that no specific equivalence had been officially granted.
Court order
In its order, the Supreme Court noted that, prima facie, there was merit in the petitioner’s argument. Considering the facts and circumstances, the court decided to stay all further proceedings related to the Maharashtra Medical Council elections. However, acknowledging that the elections had not been held since 2016 and were due in 2022, the court allowed the State of Maharashtra to appoint a new returning officer immediately. Once appointed, the election process could resume. The matter is scheduled to be heard again on April 7, as a priority.
In earlier case
In another petition filed before the Bombay High Court, Petitioner’s, Dr Sudhir Naik, former chairman of Medico Legal Cell of Associations of Medical Consultants, and seven others, made three main submissions in their plea a) elections cannot be held in week days and should be held on a Sunday, b) increase number of polling booths, and c) alternatively, government should consider online voting process through registered mobile and email address of registered medical practitioners. The court directed that more polling booths should be set up for future MMC elections.
Dr Naik confirmed the same and said, “It is not practically possible for eligible doctors to cast votes, by attending polling centres which are far from their place of practice or stay and elections need to be conducted in a democratic manner, keeping in mind the convenience of the voters.” Dr Naik welcomed the stay saying, “We will move an intervention application on April 7, before the SC, when the matter comes up for hearing. The election will have to be redone, as the returning officer was not competent for the posts.”
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