High Court dismisses doc’s plea against transfer

Legal Correspondent
Shimla, May 3

A government servant is the holder of a status. Once, a person accepts the status, he no longer remains a simple individual only, but an integral part of governance.

This was held by the High Court while dismissing a petition filed by a doctor challenging his transfer order issued on April 27. He had been transferred on deputation to the makeshift hospital, Palakwah, Una, from Civil Hospital, Dehra (Kangra).

Rejecting the plea, a Division Bench comprising Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice CB Barowalia observed: “The petitioner cannot be permitted to shirk his duties and responsibilities. This tendency has to be strictly dealt with.”

The court observed, “The petitioner has failed to realise that health workers, policemen and other frontline workers are already beset with an overwhelming load of Covid patients and are exhausted”.

It said, “The state is fighting the grimmest battle against Covid, which is nothing short of a disaster, and, therefore, it is imperative that the frontline workers are made to work on a rotation basis or else the health system is likely to collapse.”

The Bench observed, “This is rather an unfortunate case where a doctor, who had been ordered to be posted at a Covid makeshift hospital on deputation, has, instead of joining and protecting precious human lives, filed an instant writ petition, assailing the order.”

The only ground for assailing the order of deputation was that the petitioner in 2018 had met with an accident and remained hospitalised for five months, therefore, be unable to serve at the place of deputation.

It observed, “We gather an impression that the petitioner is trying to escape from duties that have now been assigned to him. We are quite sure that the petitioner, by claiming himself to be a frontline worker against the Covid fight, must have got himself vaccinated out of turn, but is now shirking his responsibility.”

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