AJAY KUMAR Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Sri Vipul Sharma, learned counsel for the petitioner, and Sri B.P.S. Mer, learned Brief Holder for the State Government and, with their consent, the writ petition is disposed of at the stage of admission.

(2.) The petitioners are all doctors serving in the hilly and rural areas of the State of Uttarakhand in compliance with the conditions stipulated in the bonds executed by them while prosecuting their undergraduate medical courses at the Government medical colleges at Haldwani and Srinagar.

(3.) The State Government had introduced a Scheme, whereby students, who desired to avail the concessional fee, were required to execute a bond undertaking to serve in the hilly and rural areas of the State of Uttarakhand for a period of five years. This Scheme was formulated by the Government of Uttarakhand in view of the acute shortage of doctors, more particularly in the hilly and rural areas of the State, which did not have adequate medical facilities. The conditions of the bond, however, placed a corresponding obligation on the State Government to pay these doctors, who were required to serve in the hilly and rural areas of the State of Uttarakhand, the pay-scales as applicable to regularly appointed medical officers in this State.