Treat doctors as regulars: HC to UT

Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 9

In a significant order with far-reaching repercussions, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has turned down a plea of the UT Administration that the posts of assistant medical officer could not be filled on regular basis as the corresponding cadre in Punjab was declared dying.

A Division Bench of the High Court also virtually rapped the UT Administration for wrongly dubbing the posts of its doctors as contractual, since they underwent regular selection process before their appointment in 1997.

The Bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu also made it clear that nomenclature of the post was wrongly marked as contractual, since the respondent-doctors had undergone selection process on a regular basis. The Bench asserted that the doctors had, in fact, gone through the same process required to be undergone while filling the posts on regular basis. The Bench also turned down the UT appeal against Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) ruling that the respondent-doctors should have been appointed on regular basis.

The Chandigarh Administration had issued advertisements strictly in accordance with the recruitment rules and regulations before the respondent-doctors participated in the selection process. They were interviewed by a duly constituted committee before being offered appointment in 1997 on contractual basis.

Taking into consideration the recruitment and promotion rules coupled with the fact that the doctors were found suitable, CAT gave a finding that the doctors should have been appointed on regular basis though they were chosen on contractual basis. The “employer” was directed to pass appropriate orders for treating them as regular employees from the date of their completing 10 years in service. 

Speaking for the Bench, Justice Sharma asserted that the stand taken by the Chandigarh Administration and other petitioners before the tribunal was that the corresponding cadre in Punjab was declared dying. As such, the posts could not be filled on regular basis. 

Dismissing the petition filed against Dr Anjali Gupta and other respondents on the grounds that it was devoid of merit, Justice Sharma asserted: “This plea cannot be accepted as the Union Territory is a different entity. It was always open for it to fill posts on regular basis instead of filling the same on contractual basis. There is no illegality or perversity in the order of the tribunal.”

Justice Sharma also directed the UT and its authorities to grant all consequential benefits to the doctors, strictly as per an earlier judgment dated August 17, 2010, by counting their contractual period also for the purposes of seniority, promotion, arrears of salary, fixation of pay etc.