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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 Party Spoiler

Updated: Nov 7, 2024

Nawab Malik

Nawab Malik is contesting as an official candidate of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) from the Shivajinagar-Mankhurd assembly constituency. However, he is not the official candidate of the Mahayuti of which the NCP is a part. The other two alliance partners have even opposed Malik and made it clear that they won’t campaign for him. This has raised questions as to why is he contesting from the seat?


Mankhurd-Shivajinagar seat has gone to the Shiv Sena under Cm Eknath Shinde and the party has fielded one Suresh Krishna Patil aka Bullet Patil as its candidate from the seat. Also, traditionally this constituency doesn’t belong to Nawab Malik. He had always been contesting the Kurla constituency. Moreover, the BJP and the Shiv Sena are openly opposing Malik accusing him of having connections with fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim and hence have said that they won’t campaign for him. Malik was jailed over these allegations and that also is the reason why he wasn’t been officially accepted by the NCP under DCM Ajit Pawar even after his release. This raises another question as to why Ajit Pawar, who didn’t dare to accept Malik as a party member went ahead to declare him as an official candidate of the party at the very last moment?


On this backdrop, people have started doubting Malik’s intentions to contest election from this constituency. Whether he will prove to be a vote getter or a vote splitter, is the real question people wasn’t to ask.


Born on June 20, 1959, in Dhuswa village of Uttar Pradesh Nawab Malik moved to Mumbai with his family in the 1970s. His father was involved in the rag business, which Malik later joined before venturing into politics. His political journey began in 1979 when he participated in a city-wide student protest against a fee hike at Mumbai University. Initially he was part of the Congress but later moved to the Samajwadi Party, where he won a by-election and served as a minister in the Congress-NCP alliance government in 1999. In 2004, Malik joined the NCP due to differences with Abu Azmi and was appointed as a Minister of State. Since then, he has held various ministerial positions.


Malik sported several controversies around him and always posed as the savior of minorities. After the arrest of Shahrukh Kahn’s son Aryan, Malik was very critical of the Narcotics Control Bureau and the union government. This was the biggest clash point between him and the BJP. Finally, he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in February 2022, in connection with an alleged money laundering case. After securing bail from the SC on health grounds, he is currently out of the jail.

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