Bail of Subharti group head cancelled

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 28

Simran Jeet Kaur, Judicial Magistrate 1, Dehradun, has cancelled the bail of Dr Atul Kishan Bhatnagar, head of the Subharti group of Institutions, whose cheques of several crores of rupees issued to complainant Nitu Verma had bounced. Dr Bhatnagar allegedly issued her cheques in a deal that she would designate him as a trustee of her Shri Shri 1008 Narayan Swami Charitable Trust that is running Shridev Suman Shubharti Medical College in Dehradun.

Nitu, who claims to be the original owner of the medical college in question, pleaded in the court that the accused had not renewed the bank surety given in his bail plea and was trying to mislead the court with his absence. Hence his bail plea should be rejected.

The Judicial Magistrate, acting on a report received from her office stating that the given bank fixed deposits for the bail expired on November 12, 2015, and October 17, 2015, ordered cancellation of Dr Bhatnagar’s bail.

With this development the dispute over the accreditation of Sridev Suman Subharti Medical College, Dehradun, has turned murkier, jeopardising the future of 150 MBBS students, who were enrolled in 2016-17.

An Oversight Committee (OC) of the Medical Council of India (MCI) mandated by the Supreme Court had given conditional permission to Dr Jagat Narain Subharti Charitable Trust to establish Sridev Suman Subharti Medical College in Dehradun but during inspection and evaluation on October 26 and 27 the MCI found several discrepancies, besides a land ownership dispute.

Thereafter the executive committee of MCI at a meeting held on January 13 this year recommended to the Uttarakhand Ministry of Health and the oversight committee that Sridev Suman Shubharti Medical College should be debarred from admitting students to the MBBS course for two years. It also decided to encash the bank guarantee of Rs 11.50 crore furnished by the Dr Jagat Narain Subharti Charitable Trust to run the medical college in pursuance of the directives passed by the oversight committee.

The MCI in its report stated that, “The trust does not fulfil the qualifying criteria of establishment of a new medical college”. The trust possesses 13.59 acres, which is disputed, and has failed to get any relief from the Uttarakhand High Court. The minimum requirement according to the MCI regulation is 20 acres, which could be in two pieces not more than 10 km apart. One piece should be of minimum five acres which was not the case as the college was having land in three pieces in three revenue villages, said the report. Meanwhile, the college authorities have expressed ignorance whether Dr Bhatnagar’s bail has been cancelled.

Aggrieved medical students have welcomed the court order. They alleged that the college had charged exorbitant fees of Rs 11 lakh. Due to the dispute their future was in jeopardy and a compensation of Rs 25 lakh, according to the Allahabad High court ruling in the MC Saxena Medical College, Lucknow, case should be paid to each of them.

Medical Education Director Dr Ashutosh Sayana said, “We are making efforts to ensure that the future of the students is not endangered and the department will try to adjust them elsewhere. We are working to act on the directions of the Secretary, Medical Education, the MCI and the Union government and ensure the refund of fees as soon as they receive directions in this regard”.