Sudipto Roy, the president of the state medical council and a Trinamool MLA, has written to the Bengal health secretary requesting that the government nominate a new member to the council to replace Santanu Sen, a former Rajya Sabha member from the party.

Roy told this newspaper that Sen had stayed away from the council’s meetings for many months and hence, lost the right to be a member.

The wrangle between the two Trinamool leaders has once again brought to the fore the struggle to wrest control of the body that investigates complaints of negligence against doctors and punishes them if found guilty, said sources in the health department.

The council also issues registration to fresh medical graduates, without which they cannot practice.

“Roy and Sen, though belonging to the same party, are known rivals in the politics in the state’s healthcare sector,” said a source.

The state government nominates three members to the council. Nirmal Maji, a Trinamool MLA, and Sourav Paul, a junior doctor, are among the three.

“The medical council act says that a member who does not attend three consecutive meetings without citing any reason will lose the membership. Santanu Sen did not attend meetings for many months, more than three successive meetings,” Roy told Metro on Wednesday.

The letter was sent on Tuesday.

“Sen’s membership of the council has been terminated and we have requested the health secretary to nominate a new state government member,” Roy said.

Sen told this newspaper that he would not respond to the charges in public.

“I have written to the health secretary. I want to point out that I was elected as a member of the council in 2012 with the highest number of votes. After that, the state government nominated me as a member in 2022,” he said.

One of the demands of the junior doctors during the statewide protests between August and October, following the rape and murder of a colleague at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, was the dissolution of the state medical council.

In another development, the health department has recently written to Roy to appoint a new registrar of the council since the incumbent was appointed without the state government’s approval.

Roy said on Tuesday that the registrar’s term was extended in 2019 by the then council and the new council headed by him again extended the term in 2022.

“His extended term will end on December 31. The letter from the department came before we advertised for the post,” he said.

The Joint Platform of Doctors (JPD) had earlier pointed out irregularities in the appointment of the registrar. “Our stand has been vindicated, but the question is whether the decisions taken by the registrar would become null and void,” said JPD member Rajiv Pandey.