White
Paper on Dr. Ketan Desai (Part-II)
This
has reference to the stories published by Reuters regarding Dr. Ketan Desai who
was unanimously elected as President of the World Medical Association (WMA) in
October, 2009.
WMA has
111 countries as its members. India is also a member of the WMA for well
over four decades. India also has one Council Member (which is against
the membership of 50,000 Indian doctors), whereby 50,000 IMA members are also
the members of WMA represented by a Council Member of thereat.
In
October 2009 during WMA Meeting held at New Delhi, Dr. Ketan Desai was
unanimously elected as the President-Elect, WMA. Accordingly, Dr. Desai was to
take over as the office of the President of WMA in October 2010 in Vancouver,
Canada.
On April
22, 2010 when Dr Ketan Desai was President, MCI search was conducted by CBI at
his offices at MCI and his house at Ahmedabad and he was taken into custody on
the allegation of favouring one private medical college inspite of deficiencies
in lieu of money.
In
terms of the Seizure Memo of CBI of Delhi dt. 22/4/2010, no cash was recovered
and vide Seizure Memo of CBI at Ahmedabad dt. 22/4/2010, a cash of Rs.53,400/-
was recovered. The same was not seized and handed over to Dr. Alka Desai,
his wife (Annex I – See page No. 5 and Annex IA -PDF attached).
The media
on the next day vociferously highlighted that Dr. Ketan Desai was caught red
handed taking a bribe of Rs. 2 Crores for giving wrongful permission to Gian
Sagar Medical College, which was patently false, concocted and
mischievous as both Seizure Memos do not corroborate with the same.
IMA
Enquiry committee went through the charge-sheet of the CBI in Gian Sagar
Medical College original case and found that charges against Dr. Desai
was recommending permission by MCI to the said medical college while he was
holding the position of President MCI, for the 4th batch inspite of
deficiency being noted. As per CBI charge sheet only deficiency in the college
was of auditorium and yet the permission was recommended.
IMA
went through the inspection report of MCI dt. 22/3/10 (Annex 2 - PDF attached ) and noted that MCI inspection report has also mentioned
the “the auditorium is under construction".
IMA
went through the MCI Laws and requirements and noted that for the permission to
admit 4th batch in a medical college ‘auditorium’ is not required
as against the prescribed statutory requirements but is required for the
admission of 5th batch in terms of the Governing Regulations of the
Council on Minimum Standard Requirements (Annex 3 -PDF attached ).
The
next day i.e 23/4/2010, the CBI also inspected the College and found that
except auditorium there was no other deficiency in the college,
which was consistent with the findings incorporated in the report submitted by
the inspectors of MCI and considered by the Medical Council of India.
On 25th
April the then Union Health Minister Sh Gulam Nabi Azad ordered to constitute a
high level committee to verify the correctness of the report and recommendation
of MCI (annexure pdf )
Accordingly
a three member committee was constituted on 26th April ( annexure pdf) led by Mr. Keshav DesiRaju.
On 29th
April, Ministry of Health, a team led by Mr. Keshav DesiRaju the then
Additional secretary, Dr. Arun Aggarwal (ADGHS) and Dr. Rani Kumar Dean of
AIIMS New Delhi also inspected the said medical college and submitted their
report. In this report too it has been stated that ‘auditorium was not available’.
However inspite of the same the Committee observed and concluded that "
the recommendations made by the Executive Committee of the MCI at its meeting
on 5.4.2010 to grant permission for admission of 100 students in the year
2010-11 for the fourth batch of MBBS students at the Gian Sagar Medical College
& Hospital, Patiala was justified on the basis of the report of the Council
Inspectors and the compliance report of made by the Principal. The observations
made in the first report have been rectified. Further, the existing facilities
and faculty at Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital appear more than
adequate to conduct undergraduate medical teaching.
The
said report ( dated 3rd May) was forwarded by the Secretary, Ministry of
Health, Government of India Ms Sujata Rao to the Director, CBI on 11th May
2010. (annexure pdf)
Thereafter
one more inspection was conducted by the Board of Governors appointed by the
Central Government. Report dt. 16th/17th June 2010 of the team of inspectors
appointed by the Board of Governors also mentioned that no auditorium was
available ( Annex 5 - PDF attached ). Accordingly, Board of Governors also accorded permission on
12.7.2010 (Annex 6 - PDF attached ).
IMA
internal enquiry failed to decipher why media carried the news that Dr. Desai
was caught red handed taking bribe of Rs.2 Crores as against the material fact
that the Seizure Memo showed that no cash was recovered from him.
Further, the main allegation against him was that the MCI had recommended
permission for the said college while he was the President inspite of non
availability of Auditorium. However, as per the MCI regulation it is not
required and later CBI, Ministry of Health & Board of Governors
respectively conducted the inspections and submitted their reports and the said
medical college was finally accorded permission to admit 4th batch on 12/7/10
inspite of the non availability of Auditorium, which was noted by MCI in its
earlier inspection.
The
projected error on the said count was justifiable exclusively on the ground in
case the Central Government, Board of Governors, MCI would have denied the
permission to this college due to the non availability of auditorium. The
very fact, MCI Board of Governors appointed by central Government gave
permission to admit 4th batch to said medical college, clearly brought to fore
that the allegations were bereft of any merit, whatsoever.
Lucknow
Case:
A)
MCI Inspection was done on 20th /21st February, 2009. Dr. Desai was not the
President of MCI then. Dr. Suresh Shah, MCI Inspector, in his statement
under section 164 stated that Dr. Ketan Desai as the President MCI instructed
him to be strict in the inspection.
It is pertinent to note that Dr. Desai was not President at the given time.
It is pertinent to note that Dr. Desai was not President at the given time.
B.) The
chargesheet of CBI Lucknow case mentions irregularities about 12 Faculty
doctors.
1)
In cases pertaining to 4 doctors’ cases, Ration cards were submitted by them as
proof of residence, which were found to be not genuine by CBI.
However,
they have been faculty at the said college, much before that and have been
consistently accepted as the teaching faculty by MCI. Dr. Desai was not
the President MCI during the concerned period and the affairs of the Medical
Council of India were monitored by an Ad-hoc Committee appointed by the Hon'ble
Supreme Court.
2) In
another 4 cases, during inspection in Feb. 2009, 4 doctors were shown to be
staying at doctor’s quarters in the campus, as per the declaration form by them
and endorsed by the Dean of the college. When CBI inspected in Aug. 2010 (after
18 months), these 4 doctors were found not staying in the doctor’s quarter on
that day.
c) In
the rest 4 cases, doctors did not fill form-16 in their income tax returns.
(Kindly
note in all these 12 cases, where is any role attributable to the President of
the Medical Council of India)
Allegation
of the CBI was that in case the inspection team would have picked up these
shortcomings of 12 Doctors, the College would not have been given permission to
admit the fresh batch of students.
Follow
up:
Lucknow
High Court on 16/02/2015 quashed corruption charges against Dr. Ketan Desai
under POCA in its entirety. As regards, his involvement in cheating and
conspiracy under IPC 420 and 120-B , the Court is yet to decide about framing
the charges. Till date no charges have been framed by the competent
court.
IMA has
in its possession the affidavit filed by the CBI in Lucknow High court in March
2014 (Annex– 7 PDF attached ). The relevant para is reproduced as under:
(i)
Whether there is any evidence of meeting of mind or criminal conspiracy against
the accused Dr. Ketan Desai with other co-accused person?
Reply
of CBI: There is no direct evidence of meeting of mind or criminal conspiracy
of Dr Ketan Desai with other co-accused persons. The circumstantial evidence in
this regard has been detailed in the counter affidavit filed by CBI on
04.04.2013.
(ii)
Whether there is any evidence of quid-pro-quo against the accused Dr Ketan
Desai?
Reply
of CBI: There is no evidence of quid-pro-quo against the revisionist Dr Ketan
Desai in the instant case.
(iii)Whether
there is any evidence against the accused Dr Ketan Desai in respect of
demand/acceptance/obtainment of any valuable thing/pecuniary advantage?
Reply
of CBI: There is no evidence against accused Dr Ketan Desai in respect of
demand/acceptance/ obtainment of any valuable thing/pecuniary advantage for
himself. As regards the pecuniary advantage caused to the said private medical
college mention has been made in the counter affidavit filed by CBI on
04.04.2013.
After
going through these 3 replies from CBI, IMA internal enquiry Committee
is of the considered opinion that there is not even an iota of evidence
against Dr. Ketan Desai under IPC 420 & 120B.However, the Court is yet to
decide the case on the merit.
Disproportionate
Assets (DA) Case closure
The
case of D.A was registered by the CBI in May 2010 against Dr. Ketan Desai and
his family members for the period 1/1/97 to 22/4/2010.
After
detailed investigation by the CBI, over a period of 2 years, CBI in May 2012
filed a closure report before the Competent Court stating that all
accounts/assets in possession of Dr. Desai and his family members are genuine
and possession known to legal sources of his and the income of his family
members. The Competent Court after due scrutiny accepted the closure
report submitted by CBI. As a consequence thereto an appropriate order of
removal of any impediment in relation to the assets and bank accounts was also
made.
IMA
internal enquiry further went into the details of Dr. Desai’s Income Tax
Returns. His income scrutiny case decided on 27/4/2001 ( Annex-8 - PDF attached ) showed that from 1/4/90 to 18/7/2000 his undisclosed
income was 'NIL'.
The DA
case revealed that there was no undisclosed income from 1/1/96 to 22/4/10.
Corroborating
the income tax assessment order & DA Report of CBI, it is loud and clear
that from 1/4/90 to 22/4/10 for over two decades he and his family member had
no undisclosed income.
Both
the Income Tax Department and CBI could not find any source of
undisclosed/unknown income during the said period spread well over two decades.
The
case for disproportionate assets, invariably, begins with the allegation that
the assets held are disproportionate to known legal sources of income and
therefore, it has to be assumed / accepted that possession of such assets,
which are beyond the known legal sources must be from illegal sources say bribe
etc. If upon through investigation, the investigating authority concludes
that the assets, which are held by the person under investigation, are
proportionate to the known sources of his income then in that case, all the
allegations of illegal sources of income such as bribe etc. automatically stand
to be rejected. No such allegation would then survive in any form.
As such, it can be convincingly, concludingly and safely stated that Closure of
DA case means that all financial corruptions charges against a person are found
to be false and baseless.
Correspondence
with WMA:
In
2013, on the basis of these documents, IMA approached WMA to reinstate the
Presidentship of Dr. Desai which was held in abeyance because of cases pending
against him.
WMA
asked for the official correspondence regarding pending case against Dr. Ketan
Desai.
Accordingly,
the IMA informed the WMA that they have corresponded with the CBI to get the
list of all pending cases.
IMA
received a letter dt. 22/4/14 (Annex-9 - PDF attached) from
the CBI which clearly mentioned that the DA case against him has been closed,
as no cash was recovered from Dr. Ketan Desai during search. In Calcutta,
Chennai and Hyderabad cases, no evidence was found against Dr. Desai and he was
given clean chit. In Lucknow case, charges are yet to be framed and in
Delhi case, the proceedings have been stayed by the Hon'ble Supreme
Court.
The
copy of CBI letter to the above effect was submitted to the WMA.
WMA
upon going through the documents so submitted including the Court orders and
the correspondence, decided that Dr. Ketan Desai will legitimately take over as
the President of the WMA in October 2016.
Nowhere
IMA withheld any information of any type or made any attempt whatsoever to
misguide the WMA. The crux of the documentation is the CBI letter and the
court orders from time to time, which are in possession of WMA.
IMA in
April 2015, brought out a White Paper (part 1) on Dr. Ketan Desai and
placed it on its Website ( http://www.ima-india.org/ima/news.php?nid=7) for the information of all concerned by making it a public
document.
Is Dr.
Ketan Desai a valid Member of MCI:
Now and
then, media reports that registration held by Dr. Ketan Desai has been
suspended by the MCI. As per IMC Act, one needs to be registered
through the State Medical Council and in the case of Dr. Ketan Desai it is
Gujarat State Medical Council. His license to practice modern
medicine in terms of his registration with the Gujarat State Medical Council
was never suspended. However, MCI after his arrest, suspended his license which
was later revoked in January 2015. As per statutory regulations MCI is
supposed to decide the matter/complain within six months, but in his case MCI
did not complete the said enquiry till the elected body took over (almost
3 years). During this period, his license to practice of Gujarat Medical
Council was never questioned by the MCI. He remained enrolled
continuously without any break on the State medical register of
Gujarat State Medical Council. As on today, his name appears in the IMR,
maintained by the Medical Council of India. [http://www.mciindia.org/InformationDesk/IndianMedicalRegister.
aspx]
64
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1981
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G-11666
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Gujarat
Medical Council, Desai Ketan Dhiraj Lal
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Desai
Ketan Dhiraj Lal
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Correspondence
of Reuters:
Apart
from verbal interviews, Reuter reporters communicated with the Hony. Secretary
General of IMA as well as Dr Ketan Desai. The answers given by Dr. Ketan
Desai & IMA are annexed herewith (Annex 10, 11, 12 & 13 -
PDF Attached).
In no
way, IMA has withheld any information. Whatever IMA has corresponded with
the WMA, was based on the reports of the closure of D.A Case and letter
received from CBI and the court orders from time to time.
IMA
Stand:
1.
Dr. Ketan Desai is IMA’s nominee for
the post of President, WMA.
2.
He is not there in an individual
capacity.
3.
IMA’s internal enquiry has clearly
shown that he is a victim of circumstances and possible conspiracy at the hands
of vested interest plagued and pained at his tough principled policy stands.
4.
IMA is not convinced that he has been
indulging in any corrupt practices. IMA had and continues to hold impeccable
faith in the judicial proceedings and shall abide by the pronouncements /
orders of the Hon'ble Courts.
5.
IMA is also aware of the Indian Laws
that unless convicted one is held to be innocent. Simply an pending FIR does
not disqualify anyone from assuming any higher position as the cases may linger
on endlessly plagued by delays and latches in India. For e.g., even upon
more than four years of time having lapsed in the Lucknow case whether to frame
charges against Dr. Desai or not till date has remained and decided. As such,
he has to be taken as innocent until and unless he is proved to be guilty and
convicted for the same.
6.
Imagine, Dr Desai is asked to resign
and by next October 2016, before he is scheduled to take over, he is cleared of
both the court cases.
7.
IMA with all strength at its disposal
stands by its decision that Dr. Ketan Desai is a validly nominated and
duly elected as the President, WMA in 2016.
Media
Reacts
