The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed the appointment of Dr. Anil Khurana as chairperson of the National Commission for Homeopathy..A Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Manmohan set aside a Division Bench order of the Karnataka High Court which had upheld the appointment.Dr. Khurana has to step down from the post within a week without taking any policy decision, the Court ordered."The appointment was not in accordance with law. The third respondent shall step down from the post of chairperson forthwith within a week without taking any policy decisions. No future benefits shall accrue to him," the top court directed..The decision was rendered on an appeal filed by Dr. Amaragouda L Patil challenging the appointment of Dr. Khurana..Dr. Patil was an applicant to the post. He initially moved the Karnataka High Court challenging the appointment of Dr. Khurana. On January 10, 2024, single-judge Justice NS Sanjay Gowda struck down Khurana's appointment on the ground that he did not meet the criterion laid down by Section 4 of National Commission for Homeopathy Act, 2020.The said provision mandates that a person should have held a position of leadership for at least 10 years. "It is only in respect of the period when Dr. Anil Khurana worked as the Director General (in-charge) from August 2017 to April 2018 and as the Director General from July 2019 to till 2021, can he be considered as a leader, as envisaged under the provisions of the Act. This would indicate that Dr. Anil Khurana was holding leadership only for a period of about four years and therefore, did not satisfy the requirement of Section 4, which required Dr. Anil Khurana to be a leader for at least 10 years as the Head of a Department or 10 years as the Head of an organisation," the single-judge said.However, in August 2024, a Division Bench of Chief Justice NV Anjaria and Justice KV Aravind overturned the single-judge verdict.This led to the appeal before the apex court..Story to be updated.
