Chapter I PRELIMINARY.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, (a) "appointed day" means the date on which the provisions of this Act other than section 1 come into force under sub-section (3) of section 1; (b) "Council" means the Gujarat Medical Council constituted under section 3; (c) "Executive Committee" means the Executive Committee of the Council constituted under section 11; (d) "medical practitioner" or "practitioner" means a person who is engaged in the practice of modern scientific medicine in any of its branches including surgery and obstetrics, but not including veterinary medicine or surgery or the Ayurvedic, Unani or Homoeopathic system of medicine; (e) "member" means a member of the Council; (f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules; (g) "President" means the President of the Council; (h) "register" means the register of medical practitioners prepared or deemed to be prepared and maintained under this Act; (i) "registered practitioner" means a medical practitioner whose name is for the time being entered in the register, but does not include a person whose name is provisionally entered in the register; (j) "Registrar" means the Registrar appointed under section 33 or 14, as the case may be; (k) "rules" means rules made under section 31; (l) "Schedule" means the Schedule appended to this Act; (m) "Vice-President" means the Vice-President of the Council.

(1) With effect from such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette notify, there shall be constituted for the purposes of this Act a Council to be called "the Gujarat Medical Council". (2) The Council shall be a body corporate, having perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, whether moveable or immoveable and to contract and to do all things necessary for the purposes of this Act, and may be the name aforesaid sue and be sued. (3) The Council shall consist of the following members, namely:- (a) five members to be nominated by the State Government, out of whom not more than one may be a person who is not a practitioner; (b) one member from each University established by law in the State which has a medical faculty, elected by members of the medical faculty of the University from amongst members thereof who are practitioners; and (c) six members to be elected by registered practitioners from amongst themselves. (4) The President and Vice-President shall be elected by the members from amongst themselves. (5) The election of the members, and of the President and Vice-President, shall be held at such time, and it such place, and in such manner, as may be prescribed. (6) If at any election, the electors fail to elect the requisite number of members, or the President or the Vice-President, the State Government shall nominate such registered practitioner or practitioners as it deems fit, to fill up the vacancy or vacancies; and the practitioners so nominated shall be deemed to have been duly elected under this section. (7) Where any dispute arises regarding any election of a member or the President or Vice-President, it shall be referred to the State Government, and the decision of that Government shall be final. (8) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (3)- (i) in respect of the constitution of the Council for the first time under this Act, the members thereof shall be nominated by the State Government from amongst persons qualified to be elected or nominated as members of the respective class; (ii) the members so nominated shall hold office for such period not exceeding three years in the aggregate as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify.

(1) The State Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, publish the names of the members, whether elected or nominated. (2) Save as otherwise provided by this Act, a member, whether elected or nominated, shall hold office for a term of five years from the date of publication of the notification under sub-section (1): Provided that, where a person is elected by members of medical faculty of a University, he shall cease to hold office as a member if he ceases to belong to that faculty. (3) Save as otherwise provided by this Act, the President or the Vice-President shall hold office from the date of his election upto the day on which his term of office as member expires. (4) The term of office of an outgoing member shall, notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), be deemed to extend to and expire with the day immediately preceding the day on which the names of the successor members are published under sub-section (1). (5) The term of office of an outgoing President or Vice-President shall, notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (3), be deemed to extend to and expire with the day immediately preceding the day on which the successor President or Vice-President, as the case may be, is elected. (6) An outgoing member, President or Vice-President, shall be eligible for re-election or re-nomination. (7) Leave of absence may be granted by the Council to any member for a period not exceeding six months.

(1) Any casual vacancy, previous to the expiry of the term, in the office of the President or the Vice-President or a member elected under clause (b) or (c) of sub-section (3) of section 3, caused by reason of death, resignation, disqualification or disability or any other reason, shall be filled by election: Provided that, any such vacancy in the office of an elected member occurring within six months prior to the date on which the term of office of all the members expires, shall not be filled. (2) Any casual vacancy, previous to the expiry of the term, in the office of a member nominated under clause (a) of sub-section (3) or sub-section (8) of section 3 shall be reported forthwith by the Registrar to the State Government, and shall as soon as possible thereafter be filled by the State Government by nomination. (3) Any person elected under sub-section (1) or nominated under sub-section (2) to fill a casual vacancy shall, notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (8) of section 3 or section 4, hold office only so long as the person in whose place he is elected or nominated would have held office, if the vacancy had not occurred.

(1) The President or the Vice-President may at any time resign his office by a notice in writing addressed to the Council and delivered to the Registrar. The resignation shall take effect from the date on which it is accepted by the Council or on the expiry of sixty days from the date of the delivery of the notice, whichever event occurs earlier. (2) An elected member may at any time resign his office by a notice in writing addressed to the President. A nominated member may at any time resign his office by a notice in writing addressed to the State Government. Every such resignation shall take effect from the date on which it is accepted by the President or, as the case may be, the State Government or on the expiry of sixty days from the date of the receipt of the notice. whichever event occurs earlier.

(1) A person shall be disqualified for being elected or nominated as, for continuing as, a member,- (a) if he is an undischarged insolvent; (b) if he is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court; (c) if his name has been removed from the register and has not been re-entered therein; or (d) if he is a whole-time officer or servant of the Council. (2) If any member absents himself from three consecutive meetings of the Council, without leave of the Council granted under sub-section (7) of (3) If any member becomes or is found to be subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in sub-section (1), the Council shall submit a report to the State Government, and the State Government, if satisfied about the disqualification, shall declare his seat vacant.

(1) The meetings of the Council shall be convened, held and conducted in such manner as may be prescribed. (2) The President, when present, shall preside at every meeting of the Council. If at any meeting the President is absent, the Vice-President, and in the absence of both, some other member elected by the members present from amongst themselves, shall preside at such meeting. (3) All questions at a meeting of the Council shall he decided by majority of votes. (4) The presiding authority at a meeting shall have and exercise a second or casting vote, in case of an equality of votes. (5) Six members including the President and the Vice-President shall form a quorum. When a quorum is required but not present, the presiding authority shall, after waiting for not less than twenty minutes for such quorum, adjourn the meeting to such hour on some future day as it may notify on the notice board at the office of the Council; and the business which would have been brought before the original meeting had there been a quorum thereat, shall be brought before the adjourned meeting, and may be disposed of at such meeting or any subsequent adjournment thereof, whether there be a quorum present, or not.

(1) The proceedings of the discussion of every meeting of the Council, shall be treated as confidential; and no person shall, without the previous resolution of the Council, disclose any portion thereof: Provided that, nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit any person from disclosing or publishing the text or any resolution adopted by the Council, unless the Council directs such resolution also to be treated as confidential. (2) No disqualification of or defect in the election or nomination of any person as a member, or as the President, or as the Vice-resident, or as a presiding authority of a meeting, shall of itself be deemed to vitiate any act or proceedings of the Council in which such person has taken part, whenever the majority of persons who are parties to such act or proceedings, were entitled to vote. (3) During any vacancy in the Council, the continuing members may act, as if no vacancy had occurred: Provided that, the number of vacancies shall at any time not exceed five.