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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

HC orders fresh elections in three months

Dr. Rumi F. Beramji Mumbai: In a jolt, the Bombay High Court has directed the state government to hold elections to the Maharashtra Council of Acupuncture (MCA) - which is managed by an Administrator for past three years – within three months, here on Friday. A division bench of the Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench) comprising Justice Ajit Kadethankar and Justice Vibha Kankanwadi were disposing off a petition filed a senior medical practitioner, Dr. Laxman Bhimrao Sawant through his...

HC orders fresh elections in three months

Dr. Rumi F. Beramji Mumbai : In a jolt, the Bombay High Court has directed the state government to hold elections to the Maharashtra Council of Acupuncture (MCA) - which is managed by an Administrator for past three years – within three months, here on Friday.   A division bench of the Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench) comprising Justice Ajit Kadethankar and Justice Vibha Kankanwadi were disposing off a petition filed a senior medical practitioner, Dr. Laxman Bhimrao Sawant through his lawyer Sharad V. Natu, seeking different reliefs.   These included alleged serious irregularities in the functioning of the MCA and challenging the continuation of the Administrator for a prolonged period pending the elections. The matter was highlighted in detail by  ‘ The Perfect Voice’   on April 21.   Strong Observations In its order uploaded today, Justice Kadethankar and Justice Kankanwadi noted the petitioner’s contentions that the Administrator, Dr. Rumi F. Beramji was appointed for only one year, and that period is over.   “It should be the endeavour of the State to implement the various provisions of the Act, that is, the Maharashtra Acupuncture System of Therapy Act, 2015. Holding of elections and formation of the council as per Section 3 of the said Act should be adhered to by the State Government and it cannot be then postponed in infinity,” said the court.   Accordingly, Justice Kadethankar and Justice Kankanwadi directed the state government, through the Medical Education & Drugs Department (MEDD) to conduct the MCA elections within a period of three months.   Prolonged Tenure Among other things, the petitioner had termed the appointment and prolonged tenure of former MCA Chairman Dr. Rumi F. Beramji as “illegal and arbitrary,” and detrimental to the cause of Acupuncture.   Elected as the inaugural head (May 2018-May 2023) of the five-member statutory body, Dr. Beramji, was subsequently appointed its Administrator after the MCA’s term expired.   Adv. Natu pointed out that the Administrator’s appointment was intended to be a stop-gap arrangement for one year to facilitate the polls, but it was subsequently ‘extended’. However, nearly three years later, Dr. Beramji continued without fresh elections being conducted, raising questions over adherence to statutory norms and principles of governance.   Directionless Members Dr. Sawant further contended that while Dr. Beramji was installed as Administrator, the remaining members of the council were effectively superseded, leaving the regulatory body without its mandated collective structure, and over 6500-members directionless.   He argued that the excuse cited for delay in conducting elections was ostensibly an incomplete voter list, but this reason was flimsy considering the extended time lapse.   The petition, which was heard and disposed of on April 22, also levelled serious allegations against the style of functioning of the MCA Administrator, decisions were taken unilaterally, whimsically and without transparency or institutional accountability.   Selective Targeting It also made accusations of ‘selective targeting’ of certain prominent members who attempted to raise valid issues, including the globally-renowned noted acupuncture expert Dr. P. B. Lohiya of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.   Other members raised doubts over approvals granted to more than a dozen acupuncture colleges and some two dozen Continuous Acupuncture Education (CAE) centres in undue haste, purportedly in violation of prescribed norms and alleged shady deals. Many of these institutions, it was claimed, either exist only on paper or lack essential infrastructure, faculty and facilities.   The petitioner called for a comprehensive review of the Administrator’s tenure, a financial audit of the MCA's affairs, and an independent probe by the MEDD into the approvals granted to the institutions in recent years.   Dr. Sawant had sought quashing Dr. Beramji’s appointment as MCA Administrator and setting aside all policy decisions taken during his tenure in the last three years, and ordering the government to hold elections to the body.

The Bandra Boys

Baba Siddiqui

Barely a month before his son Zeeshan could contest for a second term in the Maharashtra state legislative assembly, Baba Siddiqui was fatally shot in Bandra. The killing brought an end to this career spanning more than three decades during which Siddiqui garnered attention with his proximity to Bollywood actors. Starting his career as a corporator from Bandra in 1992 as a Congressman, Siddiqui was elected as an MLA for three terms between 1995 and 2009. A well- recognised face from Bandra West, he served as a minister of state for food and civil supplies and labour in the Vilasrao Deshmukh government between 2004 and 2008.


But beyond his role in public life, he grew into a real estate mogul and developed numerous properties across Bandra. As a corporator and then an MLA, he is believed to have taken keen financial interest in every big budget building that came up in the tony neighbourhood. His constituency houses swanky areas of Pali Hill, Bandstand and Carter Road which see some of the highest property prices in the city. His political career was marred by a raid of his properties by the Enforcement Directorate and his opponents often spoke, in hushed whispers, about his connections with the underworld.


Siddiqui was flamboyant and revelled in the company of film actors. Apart from being the MLA, he was best known for his star-studded Iftar parties at a Bandra five-star hotel and made headlines when he brokered a truce between two superstars, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan during one such party. A regular face at Bandra soirees, he won.


His son Zeeshan is comparatively low profile as an MLA from Bandra East but made his beginnings in public life by sponsoring football and cricket tournaments in Bandra West. Zeeshan’s sister, Arshiya, briefly entered politics but returned to his medical career. In August this year, Zeeshan was expelled from the Congress for cross voting during the legislative council polls and a few months before the elections, he quit the Congress to join the Aji Pawar-led NCP. His father Baba Siddiqui had joined Ajit Pawar earlier this year. The father-son’s move to the NCP came after they realised that according to the seat sharing arrangement of the MVA, the Bandra East constituency would go into the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s kitty considering that the Thackeray family lives in the area.

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