Tiff over Civil Surgeon’s post at Gurdaspur Civil Hospital

Ravi Dhaliwal

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Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, October 29

The ongoing battle of supremacy between two senior doctors for the post of Civil Surgeon (CS) is threatening to snowball into a major controversy, even as the administrative work has gone for a toss amid the pandemic and the spread of dengue.

On October 12, the Department of Health and Family Welfare transferred incumbent Civil Surgeon Dr Harbhajan Ram Mandy to Fatehgarh Sahib. In the absence of any clear directions on whom to hand over the charge, Dr Mandy extended his stay till October 19, when he proceeded on leave till October 25.

Before proceeding on leave, he handed the charge to Assistant Civil Surgeon Dr Bharat Bhushan. On October 19 itself, the department gave additional charge of the CS to Dr Vijay Kumar, who was working as District Family Welfare Officer. Dr Vijay Kumar, in addition to his duties, was posted as the officiating CS.

In the meantime, Dr Mandy moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court contending that his “transfer was done in an illegal and arbitrary manner in clear violation of the general transfer policy issued by the Department of Personnel dated April 23, 2018, read with instruction of June 29, 2021”.

The High Court stayed Dr Mandy’s transfer order with the observation that “the order was not legally sustainable”. The court also ordered that the status quo (existing state of affairs) be maintained.

On October 25, armed with this order, Dr Mandy went to the civil hospital to take up his duties as the CS. However, since Dr Vijay Kumar was already posted there, he had no option except to return.

Dr Adnesh Kang, Director, Department of Health and Family Welfare, disclosed that the file had been sent to the AG, seeking “some clarification”. On his part, Dr Vijay Kumar maintained that he had done no wrong and had assumed charge of CS only after the Health Department had asked him to do so.

Dr Mandy has now written to the Principal Secretary (Health) to intervene.