Tribunal quashes PGI order on riders on nursing officers’ plea for study leave

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 13

The Chandigarh Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has set aside conditions imposed by the PGI while granting permission to nursing officers to do Msc (Nursing) from colleges affiliated to Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot.

Terming the conditions unreasonable and without any policy on the subject, the Bench directed the PGI to consider the applicants’ case for grant of study leave under the provisions of the Study Leave Rules-1972 and relieve them to pursue higher studies.

Many nursing officers had approached CAT, through counsels Barjesh Mittal and Pankaj Mohan Kansal, challenging the conditions .The applicants stated that they had applied for granting the permission to do MSc (Nursing) from the BFUHS for the session 2022-2. They stated that though they received the permission from the PGI through order dated October 13, 2022, the institute had imposed many conditions arbitrary and without any justification. They added that the conditions stipulated that no objection certificate (NOC) was valid for the BFUHS main campus only. The other conditions included if selected, they would be relieved as per vacancy position and the institute requirement at the time of the final admission to the above course. There are only eight candidates who could be relieved to pursue higher education in MSc (Nursing), including NINE, PGIMER. The priority-1 will be given to candidates selected in the PGI. The criteria to relieve candidates for these vacant posts will be taken as “seniority” in the service and not individual merit.

The applicants stated that restricting validity of NOC for the BFUHS main campus only was totally in contravention of the statutory notification dated September 9, 2020, issued by the Government of Punjab, whereby the Governor had authorised the BFHUS to conduct entrance for 2020 and onwards for selection of candidates for admission to MSc (Nursing) in various institutions in the state. It had specifically mentioned that the notification covered all institutions affiliated with the BFHUS, the Indian Nursing Council, the Punjab Nursing Registration Counsel, whether government, private, aided or unaided.

They stated that the criteria to relieve candidates for admission on the basis of “seniority” in the service and not individual merit was also illogical and without any rational basis as any employee higher on the seniority list might not be able to seek admission in any particular university/college and at the same time might get admission in another university/college during different calendar months/schedule of admission.

The PGI, in its reply, stated that the rationale behind insisting for education from the main campus was that the main campus might still have the infrastructure and amenities and quality education, which could be lacking in the affiliated institutions. The institute was not denying study leave to the applicants, but due to shortage of nursing staff and heavy rush of patients, certain conditions were imposed while granting NOC.

After hearing of the arguments, Suresh Kumar Batra, Member (J) CAT, said the condition imposed by the respondents was not reasonable. In the absence of any substantive material, the opinion of the respondents about the standard of the BFUHS was unreasonable and unjustified, as it was evident from the prospectus that the university had been recognised by the Medical Council of India. The University Grants Commission (UGC) had also included the university in its list of recognised universities. In view of the background of the BFUHS, the conclusion of the respondents about the standard of the university was without any basis.

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