The state govt’s official notification is awaited

Mumbai: The state govt has decided to withdraw cases lodged against students who participated in the recent Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests across Maharashtra. According to the chief minister’s office, CM Devendra Fadnavis has directed additional chief secretary (home) Manisha Mhaiskar to initiate the process.The state govt’s official notification is awaited.The home department will compile details of all such cases from across the state and initiate the necessary process for their withdrawal after issuing a separate order to that effect, said a senior home department officer. However, another officer clarified that govt can withdraw registered police cases only after a chargesheet is filed or after police have submitted closure reports in courts.While calling off its protest on July 25 following Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over the NEET paper leak, CJP had claimed that the Centre had assured it that all FIRs filed against protesters in NDA-governed states would be withdrawn.Thousands of students had participated in CJP-led protests across Maharashtra demanding Pradhan’s resignation. Over seven days of protests in Mumbai, beginning July 18, police lodged 16 FIRs for unlawful assembly (under Section 189(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) and violation of prohibitory orders (under Sections 37(1), 37(3) and 135 of Maharashtra Police Act).Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad said the Centre should order withdrawal of similar cases registered across the country. “These cases are adversely affecting students who have applied for visas for higher education abroad or are seeking employment,” she said.Advocate Kalyani Mangave, who, along with a group of practising advocates, provided legal assistance to students during the protests, said the group got over 1,000 calls from students seeking legal help following police action. “Many students were detained at railway stations before even reaching protest sites, while FIRs were registered without proper verification, putting their futures at risk,” she said. She said police also issued notices to many students who were not named in the FIRs to determine whether they should be added as accused.Among those who received notices was Sanchita Kadam (20), a second-year BCom student from Thane, who said she was detained at a railway station before she could get to a protest venue. “I was questioned about where I was going and later received another notice asking me to appear before police again.”Another student, requesting anonymity, said she and her friends were stopped near Shivaji Park while passing through the area and later found out that an FIR had been filed against them.A Dahisar resident said police officers visited her home after her mother, in her 60s, was detained during the protest. “We received a WhatsApp notice asking us to report to the nearest police station within 14 days,” she said.On the flurry of summonses, Mumbai police clarified on Tuesday that no fresh notice has been issued to individuals named in the FIRs since July 26, maintaining that all notices served were issued prior to that cutoff date.Advocate Vikrant Khare, who is representing many students alongside a panel of Bombay HC lawyers, pointed out that local stations continue with their routine investigative process until formal administrative orders on freezing or withdrawal of cases are officially circulated to all police stations.

Mumbai: India may perform the world’s third-highest number of organ transplants, but it meets only a fraction of the country’s actual need, according to the first study assessing the unmet need of transplants.Published in The Lancet Regional Health–Southeast Asia, the study estimates that India required nearly 3.9 lakh kidney, liver, heart and lung transplants in 2021, a figure likely to rise to 4.63 lakh annually by 2040 as the population ages and chronic diseases become more common. Yet, at present, only a small proportion of patients receive a transplant.The authors said just 7.2% of the total kidney transplants needed in 2021 were conducted; similarly, transplants of liver (1.5% of the total needed), lungs (1.2%) and heart (0.2%) were performed across the country.“India performs the third-highest number of transplants, but a raw number tells you nothing unless you know the size of the queue behind it,” said the study’s author Dr Manish R Balwani, secretary of the Indian Society of Organ Transplantation (ISOT).“In the US and Europe, waiting-list registries tell you exactly how many people are waiting for a transplant. We wanted to convert what doctors see every day into numbers that policymakers can act upon,” Dr Balwani said.Using Global Burden of Disease estimates, transplant registry data and demographic projections, the researchers estimated that in 2021 about 1.26 lakh patients in India required kidney transplants, 1.85 lakh liver transplants, 83,841 heart transplants and 11,253 lung transplants. Demand is projected to increase to 1.44 lakh kidney, 2.11 lakh liver, 95,711 heart and 12,846 lung transplants annually by 2040.Dr Vatsala Trivedi, who performed the country’s first cadaveric kidney transplant in 1997 after India passed the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, said, “There is indeed a wide gap between demand and supply of organs across India.”Dr Trivedi, who wasn’t involved in the study, added that there is an urgent need to “intensify solid organ transplant services” with correct healthcare policies based on “facts and not on perceptions.”The new study has thrown up some unexpected findings: India has a higher estimated need for liver transplantation than kidney transplantation. This is unlike most Western countries and reflects India’s growing burden of chronic liver disease.The study also points to stark geographical inequities. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi-NCR, Kerala and Telangana together account for 80-96% of India’s transplant activity, despite housing only about 29% of the country’s population.“The geographic concentration was the most striking finding,” said Dr Vivek B Kute, treasurer of ISOT and a co-author. “Whether you live or die of organ failure in India depends heavily on your pincode.”The study also found that India’s transplant programme continues to rely on living donors, with about 82% of transplants involving a living family donor. Another concern is gender disparity: Women receive far fewer transplants than men, while they make up the majority of living organ donors. “Women make up nearly half the disease burden but received only 36.8% of kidney, 30.4% of liver and 23.5% of heart transplants,” said Dr Kute.

Mumbai: The proprietor of Poornima, a south Indian restaurant popular among lawyers and office-goers who flood the Fort area every weekday, has petitioned the Bombay high court to challenge the FDA action of shuttering its doors following an inspection last Friday.The restaurant owner filed the petition on Monday, raising several grounds to challenge as flawed and false the findings of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the basis of which it was asked to shut down.FDA inspectors visited the restaurant around 4 pm on Friday when cleaning work was under way following the lunch-hour frenzy, said the petition. Following its inspection, the FDA suspended the restaurant’s Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence with immediate effect. The FDA action was without issuing the 14 -day improvement notice contemplated under the law, said the plea.The FDA stopped food operations until deficiencies it cited stand rectified and compliance with food safety standards is verified. The restaurant remained closed on Monday and Tuesday. The high court is expected to hear the matter on Friday.On July 6, Park Inn by Radisson, through its HR head, too had petitioned the high court against suspension of its FSSAI licence by the FDA. The high court had on July 17 directed the FDA to form a panel to inspect compliance claimed by the hotel and report back. The high court will hear the matter on Wednesday.In the Poornima case, the FDA reportedly said banana and drumstick and other raw food had “fungal growth’’. The Poornima petition said banana skin naturally turns black and, in a key grounds, said when it offered that samples of raw food be taken by the FDA officials for testing as is required by law, no samples were taken.The petition said only a laboratory test can reveal whether there was any alleged fungus and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and rules provide for testing.The notice makes no reference to any bugs, cockroaches or rodents, said the petition, which seeks interim relief of staying the suspension of its licence.The petition, questioning the FDA notice, said when the inspectors arrived, the floor was being mopped and the FDA notice said the floor was wet, the food and kitchen equipment were being cleaned and the report said it found food particles on equipment, all of which was clearly visible in the CCTV footage.The petition, citing high standards of care, safety and hygiene employed, noted that while the restaurant walls are tiled end-to-end, and ceiling is aluminum cladding, the FDA notice said “plaster and paint’’ was flaking.The FDA has recently been on an inspection drive of food establishments and cracked down on several for reported violations of food safety and hygiene norms.

Mumbai: Bombay High Court has quashed a 2016 case of alleged money laundering against D B Realty Ltd and its managing director Vinodkumar Goenka in criminal proceedings linked to former Maharashtra deputy chief minister and cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal in the Maharashtra Sadan construction controversy.A single-judge bench of Justice Ashwin Bhobe, in the July 21 judgment, quashed a special court’s 2019 order for issuing process and rejecting the discharge pleas of Goenka and D B Realty, who were accused in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case registered in 2016 against Bhujbal and others.For Goenka and D B Realty, senior counsel Vikram Nankani and Aabad Ponda, along with advocates Parimal Shroff and Sajal Yadav, said Parvesh Construction Pvt Ltd and Bhujbal have already been discharged in the case. The transactions “do not constitute proceeds of crime’’, the special trial court had held when discharging Parvesh Construction, thus, no offence now stands against Goenka and DB Realty too, Nankani argued. Justice Bhobe accepted it.The HC was informed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has not challenged the discharge orders. But while the ED did not challenge Bhujbal’s discharge, activist Anjali Damania did before the HC, where it is pending.The genesis of the criminal investigation arose from a public interest litigation filed by BJP’s Kirit Somaiya in 2012 and Aam Aadmi Party in 2014 against Bhujbal and others, alleging misuse of public post and receiving kickbacks in award of contracts by the public works department.In 2015, three FIRs were registered against Bhujbal and others, but not against Goenka and D B Realty, the HC noted. These cases led to the ED registering PMLA cases against Goenka and D B Realty alleging that “they knowingly entered into a sham real estate transaction connected with the proceeds of crime generated by main accused Bhujbal and others”.The HC noted that the ED alleged that one “Lalit Tekchandani offered the petitioners 50% partnership in a proposed 25-acre development project in which Sameer Bhujbal (Bhujbal’s nephew) was involved. Pursuant to this arrangement, D B Realty paid Rs 5 crore to Parvesh Construction as an advance for land acquisition. Although…Rs 5 crore was later refunded by Parvesh Construction (to D B Realty), the transaction was not a genuine investment, but was designed to conceal and channelise tainted funds derived from the scheduled offence, thereby projecting those funds as legitimate”.The HC found merit in Nankani’s submissions that the discharge order had become final, and held that since allegations against Goenka and D B Realty relate to transactions with Parvesh Construction, the ED case against them is quashed.

Protesting organisations to include the state Indian Medical Association (IMA), the IMA-Junior Doctors Network, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), and the Association of State Medical Interns (ASMI)

Mumbai: Four major doctors’ organisations have warned of a complete closure of medical services across the state, including emergency as well as routine services, if the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) moves forward with the registration of homeopaths in modern medicine.The organisations include the state Indian Medical Association (IMA), the IMA-Junior Doctors Network, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), and the Association of State Medical Interns (ASMI). Speaking to the press on Tuesday, IMA representatives said the Bombay High Court’s decision on the matter is expected by mid-August and that the MMC could do well to wait rather than rushing the decision right now.“This case in the court began about 15 years ago. The hearing is in its final stages, and it is just a matter of weeks,” said Dr Shivkumar Utture, past IMA president and MMC member.The issue became a point of tussle between doctors and the state govt last year after the MMC was allowed to register homeopaths based on a one-year certificate course in pharmacology, effectively allowing them to practise modern medicine. The move had taken a backseat until now. IMA-JDN representative Dr Tithi Banerjee said a major risk of the move would be its impact on the well-being of common people. “There could be cases of medical negligence. We have been trained in this field for five years with continuous training in hospital set ups after that.”Dr Manjusha Giri, who was part of a group of IMA doctors who met with CM Devendra Fadnavis earlier in the day, said, “We have submitted a representation and have made it clear that the move would only lead to confusion among common people.”MARD president Dr Atharva Shinde pointed out that while abolishing the mandatory one-year bond service for fresh MBBS graduates, the government had itself acknowledged that there are not enough posts for the number of doctors graduating every year. He said 7,000 pass out every year while 4,000 are left to their fate. “There are adequate MBBS doctors in the state now, unlike before, who are even willing to work in rural setups. So justifications such as a shortage of doctors for the entry of homeopaths in modern medicine are not valid anymore.”