The Calcutta High Court has sought a response from the West Bengal government on whether the matter about the posting of three junior doctors of RG Kar Hospital should be heard by the High Court or the state tribunal.
Justice Biswajit Basu, while hearing a petition regarding the transfer of three junior doctors who were the face of the last year’s RG Kar protests, on Monday also asked the state government to give in writing why the three were not given their desired postings.
“Are the postings given on the basis of ranks or on what basis is it decided which doctor will be posted where?” Justice Basu asked the government.
Three junior doctors — Debasish Haldar, Aniket Mahato and Asfaqullah Naiya — had become the face of the protests at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital over the August 9 rape and murder of their colleague. Recently, the state Health Department transferred them to Malda, Purulia and Uttar Dinajpur, respectively.
The three moved the High Court against their posting, calling it arbitrary and alleged that the state government was punishing them for leading the protests. The three contended that they were transferred to district hospitals barely three months after getting their first postings in February when Haldar was posted at Howrah, Mahato at Hooghly and Naiya at Kolkata.
“There are a total of 800 doctors, out of which only three have not been given posts in the hospitals they had opted for… Only Debasish Haldar, Aniket Mahato and Asfaqullah Naiya have not been given their selected hospitals,” their counsel Pratik Dhar told the court.
Though Haldar and Naiya have joined their respective posts, Mahato is yet to join the hospital in Purulia. Mahato’s counsel told the court that there is a vacancy at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital that his client wants to fill the post.
Representing the government, Advocate General Kishore Dutta told the court that this case could not be directly heard by the Calcutta High Court, as there are specific courts for matters of government service.
“Since the state government creates the posts, (it) is at liberty to post any doctor at any hospital at any given time for the benefit of the common man. Since in the bond, it is written that the doctors have to provide service at village hospitals, this transfer is not unreasonable,” the Advocate General argued.
Students of the state-run medical colleges have to sign a bond of three years of service after their graduation — including two years at state-run hospitals, and one year at a state-run multi-speciality hospital in a village.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled on Tuesday.