Court to hear arguments on framing charges against Ramadoss

Special Judge Talwant Singh had earlier granted bail to the accused and had fixed the matter for tomorrow for hearing the arguments of charges levelled against them.

The court will also hear arguments on a plea by Ramadoss who is seeking discharge in the corruption case on the ground that the charge sheet filed against him was "bad, illegal and an abuse of the process of law" and sanction for prosecution was not obtained.

The court had earlier issued notice to the CBI seeking its response by tomorrow on the plea moved by Ramadoss.

The former health minister has been charge sheeted by the CBI for allegedly abusing his official position in permitting Indore-based Index Medical College Hospital and Research Centre (IMCHRC) to admit students without having sufficient faculty members and clinical infrastructure in 2009.

Besides Ramadoss, the other nine accused are Cabinet Secretariat Director K V S Rao, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's (MHFW) Section Officer Sudershan Kumar and Dr J S Dhupia and Dr Dipendra Kumar Gupta of Safdarjung Hospital.

Accused Dr S K Tongia, former dean of IMCHRC, Medical Director of the college Dr K K Saxena as also Nitin Gothwal and Dr Pawan Bhambani are also named as accused. Chairman of IMCHRC Suresh Singh Bhadoria is also an accused in the case.

Ramadoss was the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare from May 2004 to April 2009 in UPA-I government.

According to the CBI's charge sheet, Ramadoss and others conspired with each other in permitting IMCHRC admission for second year despite the fact that the Medical Council of India (MCI) and a committee appointed by the Supreme Court had "repeatedly recommended" that IMCHRC was not having sufficient faculty and clinical material required as per MCI norms.