AGARTALA, June 11 (TIWN): The division bench of Tripura High Court headed by Chief Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice SC Das today passed a verdict imposing fine of Rs 10000 upon the Director of Medical Education- Dr. Basudeb Bhattachariya for wrong admission process defying guidelines in Agartala Government Medical College.Two writ petitions being W.P. (C) 124 of 2014 and W.P.(C) 125 of 2014 were filed by Dr. Sukanta Saha and Dr. Mousumi Sarkar in which challenge was laid to the selection of Dr. Anup kr. Laha, Dr. Tushar H. Majumder and Dr. Bidhan Bhowmik. The issues which arose in the said case were, what was the upper age limit for the in­-service candidates.

The State had passed an order relaxing the age limit to 45 years for in-­service candidates by its communication dated 30.01.2014 on the basis of the order passed by the Minister for Health on 27.01.2014.

Though in the judgment, the High Court had clearly mentioned that Dr. Bhowmik had applied as an open category candidate and should not be treated as a Sponsored candidate, but he was selected as a Sponsored category candidate. This selection has been challenged by way of filing a writ petition being W.P.(C) 183 of 2014. The petitioner Dr. Mousumi Sarkar has also filed a Contempt petition alleging that Dr. Basudeb Bhattachariya, Director of Medical Education, has wilfully violated the orders of this Court and, therefore, be punished for committing Contempt of Court.

The petitioner alleges that once the Court had clearly held that Dr. Bhowmik had applied under the Open category the Director, Medical Education has committed contempt of the orders of the Court and has flouted the orders of the Court by holding that Dr. Bhowmik had applied under the Sponsored category.

As far as the question of sentence is concerned, since this is the first case of its type in the State, the High Court imposed a fine of Rs.10, 000 upon Dr. Bhattachariya. It is made clear that this fine has to be paid out of his own pocket and shall not come out from the coffers of the State. The fine has to be deposited in the Registry of this Court within 50 days from today. In case the fine is deposited, the same shall be handed over to the High Court Legal Services Authority. In case of default of payment of fine, the contemnor Dr. Bhattachariya shall undergo rigorous imprisonment for 15 days.

The High Court allowed the writ petition set aside the selection of Dr. Bhowmik as a Sponsored category candidate and directed that the person next in merit in the Sponsored category list be granted admission against the post and the seat allotted to Dr. Bhowmik in terms of HC order dated 06.05.2014. Prosecutor Arijit Bhowmik moved the case in favour of the petitioners.