The Calcutta High Court provided further relief to former CPM MP Lakshman Seth days after he was granted bail in the case of disappearance of six people in Nandigram in 2007.
The HC rejected the West Bengal Government’s cancellation of the licence given to Seth’s Haldia Medical College.
The single bench court termed the cancellation order passed by the Mamata Banerjee Government and the Medical Council of India (MCI) as ‘illogical’. “I thank the court for the decision. We are not fighting against the government. An educational institution needs the government’s help in order to function,” said a pleased Lakshman Seth after the verdict.
The West Bengal University of Health Sciences had cancelled the licence in November last year arguing that a medical college and dental college were part of the same campus.
Justice Girish Gupta opined that while there were stringent laws to ensure that proper infrastructure and facilities were available in order to run a medical college, there was no law barring a medical and dental college from sharing infrastructure.
Seth is the Chairman of the NGO, Indian Centre for Advancement of Research and Education (ICARE), which runs both the educational institutes.
“It’s not right to say that it is my medical college. Saying that it is mine is giving the whole issue a political colour. Today, I’m the chairman; someone else may take over tomorrow. I would like to ask the government for all help and assistance as this is a medical college. Without the state government’s help, a medical college can’t be run,” added Seth.