Bhagat demands more papers from adversaries

ISAIAH MOREWAGAE
Staff Writer | Monday November 8, 2010 00:00

Bhagat's attorney, Reuben Kamushinda, said they had long asked to be furnished with further particularities.

Kamushinda said the attitude of BHPC was making it difficult for them to prepare their defence. He proposed dates for both parties to exchange documentation, adding that if they settled on making an application to compel BHPC to provide further particularities, it would be before November 26.

However, the counsel for BHPC, Kagelelo Monthe of Monthe Marumo law firm, said all that Bhagat wanted had been provided for in papers already filed with the court. Monthe said the matter needed to go further and urged the court to speed it up. He cautioned that if both parties were allowed to dictate terms to the court, the situation would defeat the notion of timely justice.

After the arguments, Justice Michael Leburu made an order that if an application to compel was made, it should be done on or before November 26.

BHPC, together with some health practitioners, are facing a P9.3m lawsuit by Bhagat for discrediting his credentials as a cardiologist and saying he is only a general physician.   Bhagat has maintained that he is a specialist physician, whose area of speciality is cardiology. BHPC suggests that Bhagat may be using the identity of one Dr Kaushik Kumar B Bhagat who was registered as a specialist physician in 1996.  An affidavit filed by the Council, along with its 13 members, states that 'the person registered as a Specialist Physician in 1996 was one Kaushik-Kumar B Bhagat.' They further claim that those particulars were altered in 2006, from the names of Kaushik-Kumar B. Bhagat to that of Dr Kiran Bhagat.