A Vancouver veterinarian who had his licence revoked after years of battling with the College of Veterinarians of B.C. has been reinstated.
Hakam Singh Bhullar, who co-owns the Atlas Vet Clinic in East Vancouver, had his credentials stripped in Dec. 2009 after internal council hearings found him guilty of 17 counts of unprofessional conduct, including de-barking a dog without the owner's consent and the mistreatment of four animals.
He has been on administrative duties ever since.
Bhullar has long held that an alleged racial bias was behind the allegations that led to his eventual erasure from the college's records. The vet said the college targeted him because of his participation in the B.C. Veterinarians for Justice, a group of Indo-Canadian veterinarians.
An inquiry by the society found Bhullar guilty of eight charges in relation to a vocal chord removal surgery he performed on a seven-year-old Sheltie, Wendy. The dog died nearly three months after the procedure.
The panel ruled Bhullar exaggerated his experience with conducting the surgeries and did not refer the patient to another veterinarian after the animal got sick afterwards. The panel found that the vet later fabricated a part of the animal's medical records post-surgery.
Bhullar was also found guilty of assuming a false identity to owners of a cat, Joe, and later trying to pay them $1,200 to withdraw a complaint made to the B.C. Veterinary Medical Association against a fellow doctor.
The B.C. Supreme Court overturned the inquiry's findings Tuesday, saying some of the doctors on the panel retired before the probe was finalized.
Related: Read the judgment
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is reviewing the doctor's claims of racial bias in a separate complaint. The college told CTV News it would comment once its current council "digests" the court decision.
Bhullar was voted "Best Ambassador to the Animal Kingdom" by The Georgia Straight for helping low-income pet owners in 2004.
