The state medical council has charged two government doctors with “utter negligence”, leading to the death of budding cricketer Rajnis Patel.

Dilip Mazumdar and Debabrata Banerjee, both orthopaedic surgeons, have been asked to reply to the charges by April 23.

Council sources declined to say whether they had received the replies. Banerjee could not be contacted while Mazumdar said he had not received any letter from the council.

Rajnis, who had suffered a fracture in the left shinbone, was admitted to SSKM Hospital on February 6, 2003. The 17-year-old died on June 2, following five allegedly botched operations.

The chargesheet issued to Mazumdar stated that he had not performed a single surgery on Rajnis though the cricketer was admitted under him.

The council wanted to know why the patient was operated on in the emergency operating theatre and not where planned surgeries are performed. Each operation was performed by junior surgeons under the supervision of their seniors and no step was taken when the haemorrhage from the wound spun out of control on June 1, the chargesheet stated.

Banerjee, who was the resident medical officer (RMO) of the orthopaedic department, has been charged with not attending the first surgery on Rajnis. “His involvement as RMO in the subsequent operations was not acceptable,” the chargesheet said. The council is in the dark on who was in charge of Rajnis’s treatment on June 1, when Banerjee was out of town.

Council registrar D.K. Ghosh said it was not mandatory for the surgeons to reply to the charges. “We wait 21 days for the reply. After that, we organise a hearing with the doctors and announce our decision. The doctors can move a higher authority against the ruling.”

Criminal proceedings on Rajnis’s death are on in an Alipore court. “The doctors can appeal to the council to suspend its proceedings till the criminal case is disposed of,” said public prosecutor N.K. Ghosh.

The council, he added, could terminate or suspend the services of the two doctors.