The high court on Wednesday stated that it had the authority to hear petitions from three junior doctors who had approached it, challenging their postings by the state health department.
The state government had challenged the petitions by Aniket Mahata, Asfakulla Naiya and Debashis Halder, three prominent faces of the junior doctors’ protests last year. It said they should have moved the state administrative tribunal (SAT) as they were state government employees.
The three had moved high court separately, challenging the posting orders.
On Wednesday, Justice Biswajit Basu said the junior doctors were not employed but deployed by the state to serve.
After the state challenged the petitions, Justice Basu checked whether the court has the authority to hear the petitions. Justice Basu held on Wednesday that “the high court has the jurisdiction to hear the cases”.
“... it cannot be said that the petitioners have been appointed in any post, rather they have been ‘deployed’ to serve the State during the bond period,” the written order said.
The order added that it is “an absurd suggestion that the Tribunal would be an appropriate forum to adjudicate their grievances.”
The junior doctors had alleged they were able to choose an institution based on their rankings on the merit list, but they were posted elsewhere. They alleged the postings were vindictive as they had led the RG Kar protests.
“The court’s order vindicates our position. The state government had adopted delaying tactics. We want to be posted to the institutions of our choice,” Mahata said on Wednesday.
Mahata, an anaesthesiologist, had chosen RG Kar, but has been posted at Raiganj Government Medical College and Hospital.
Naiya, an ENT specialist, chose Prafulla Chandra Sen Government Medical College in Arambagh, Hooghly, but was posted in Purulia.
Halder, an anaesthesiologist, chose Howrah district hospital but was sent to Gazole Rural Hospital.