The Bombay High Court recently quashed four show cause notices issued by Additional Metropolitan Magistrate K H Holambe-Patil to four doctors, including the city's police surgeon Dr G V Uppe for allegedly giving fabricated evidence in a case where a doctor was acquitted of negligence in an operation that caused the death of a woman.

The notices were set aside by Justice D G Deshpande wherein the court allowed the four revision petitions against the metropolitan order, filed by Dr Dilip Ramchandra Waze, Dr Ashok Gangaram Shinde, Dr Pragnya Mulgaonkar and Dr Uppe. Justice Deshpande held there was ``nothing on record to show that the four doctors had in fact, given false evidences, willingly, deliberately or that the evidences were fabricated''.

The high court held that the trial court had ``tried to find the so-called falsity in evidence on the basis of something not on record''.

Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Holambe-Patil, in a judgement delivered onJuly 24, 1998, had acquitted Dr Kamini Naik on the charges of medical negligence for causing the death of a patient while operating her for a tubectomy. A complaint was filed by the patient's family against Dr Naik. Dr Waze and Dr Shinde of the police department had conducted post mortems on the body, while Dr Pragnya Mulgaonkar had administered the anaesthesia on the patient. Dr Uppe, being the police surgeon, gave a written opinion on the cause of the death. While Magistrate Holambe-Patil acquitted Naik, he issued show cause notices to the doctors, for giving fabricated evidence in court. The doctors moved court through a revision application.

Justice Deshpande ruled that the Magistrate had come to the conclusion about the false evidences by comparing them with a treatise on medical jurisprudence called Modi's Medical Jurisprudence, without bringing this to the notice of the four doctors. Even after the judgement, the public prosecutor could not say on what part of the evidence on record was the falseevidences said to have been given. The court said the book should have been brought to the notice of the doctors.

While advocates S V Kotwal appeared for Dr Vaze and Dr Shinde, A I Patel and V T Tulpule appeared for Dr Mulgaonkar. Additional public prosecutor, I S Thakur appeared for the state.

BEAG allowed to resurvey tide line along Gorai coast

The Bombay High Court today allowed the Bombay Environmental Action Group to join the Chief Hydrographer and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board in resurveying the delineation of the high tide line (HTL) along the Gorai coast.

The permission was granted in the wake of BEAG's petition alleging violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) by owners of Esselworld Park who have constructed a bandh as an extension of its amusement park. The BEAG alleged today that the bandh constructed near the amusement park has destroyed mangrove forests in the area. The bandh does not allow free flow of sea water resulting in rapid destruction of the environment,argued BEAG counsel Shiraz P Rustomjee. He said the bandh is anyway within 500 metres of the CRZ. Rustomjee also said a 325 feet tall pagoda to be built by the Vipasana Centre was illegally sanctioned by the government.

State government's counsel R V Govilkar said the bandh was not illegal, and presented the survey report of the Naval Hydrographer which showed that the bandh was well within the HTL. A bandh had existed in this plot since 1900, he said. Rustomjee countered that the coastal survey had not been conducted by the official hydrographer, and the delineation was not done properly.

Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal said experts were needed to decide if the HTL has been demarcated properly, and allowed BEAG to be heard.