Dr Mahendra Nathadwarawala v General Medical Council
| Judge | ALAN BATES |
| Neutral Citation | [2025] EWHC 459 (Admin) |
| Date | 28 February 2025 |
| Counsel | Alexis Hearnden,Appellant |
| Year | 2025 |
| Court | King's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
Judgment Nathadwarawala v General Medical Council
Neutral Citation Number: [2025] EWHC 459 (Admin)
Case No: AC-2023-LON-002156
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
KING'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Friday, 28th
February 2025
Before:
ALAN BATES
(sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court)
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Between:
DR MAHENDRA NATHADWARAWALA
Appellant
- and –
GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL
Respondent
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The Appellant appeared in person.
Alexis Hearnden (instructed by the General Medical Council) for the Respondent.
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Hearing date: 26 November 2024
Confidential draft judgment circulated: 26 February 2025
Judgment Released: 28 February 2025
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Judgment
This judgment was handed down remotely at 2:00 p.m. on 28 February 2025 by circulation to
the parties or their representatives by e mail and by release to the National Archives. I direct
that no official shorthand note shall be taken of this Judgment and that copies of this version
as handed down may be treated as authentic.
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ALAN BATES
1
Judgment Nathadwarawala v General Medical Council
THE DEPUTY JUDGE:
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
1.This is an appeal by a medical doctor (the “Appellant”) against the sanction imposed
on him by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal (“MPT”) in respect of conduct by him
which the MPT foundto have constituted “misconduct” and also to have been
“dishonest”. The sanction imposed by the MPT was that the Appellant’s registration
as a medical practitioner be suspended for 6 months, with a review. (Upon such a
review, the MPT would be able to bring the suspension to an end at the end of the 6-
month period, but could instead decide onanother course, such as extending the
suspensionforafurtherperiod.) By his appeal, the Appellant contends that the
sanction was, in all the circumstances, excessive, and that a lesser sanction would
have sufficed.
2.TheRespondent to the appeal is the General MedicalCouncil(“GMC”),which
brought the fitness to practise proceedings before the MPT. The GMC has raised a
jurisdictional objection to the appeal, namely that the appeal has not been brought
within the statutory 28-day period for appealing to the High Court against a decision
of the MPT. Although the Appellant submitted an Appellant’s Notice form, and paid
the relevant court fee, a few days before the 28-day period expired, the form was not
signed by him: the signature box was blank. By the time the error was pointed out to
the Appellant by theCourt’s administrative staff, the 28-day appeal period had
already elapsed. Although the Appellant then acted reasonably promptly in submitting
a signed appeal form, he was already out of time for bringing an appeal. The GMC
argued before me that, in the circumstances of this case, the Court has no power to
extend time for bringing the appeal.
3.The first set of questions I have to decide, therefore, are these: (1) Did the Appellant’s
submission to the Administrative Court Office of an Appellant’s Notice form, and
payment of the fee, within the 28-day period suffice to constitute the bringing of an
appeal, notwithstanding that the form was not signed? And if not, then (2) does the
Court, in the circumstances of this case, have a power either to deem the appeal to
have been brought within time, or to grant a retrospective extension of time, so that it
can then proceed to determine the appeal on its substance?
4.For the reasons set outin PartA of this judgment, I have decided that: (1) the
Appellant’s submission to the Administrative Court Office of an unsigned Appellant’s
Notice form did not suffice to constitute the bringing of an appeal within the 28-day
2
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