R LAKSHMI Vs. STATE OF TAMILNADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AGGRIEVED against the dismissal of her claims, by a learned single Judge of this Court, for a direction to the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Director of Medical Education to promote only the Lecturers having qualifications prescribed by the Indian Nursing Council to the post of Readers and her challenge to the order of transfer, the writ petitioner has come forward to prefer these two appeals.

(2.) FROM the materials placed on record, it is seen that the appellant, after completing her Diploma in Nursing, has joined as Nurse on 9.3.1981. In the year 1986, she was permitted to undergo B.Sc. Nursing as a service candidate, which she completed from the College of Nursing, Madras Medical College in the year 1989. In the year 1992, she was permitted by the Government to undergo P.G. Degree programme in Nursing in the Christian Medical College, Vellore since the P.G.degree in Nursing was not available in the Madras Government College and accordingly, the appellant completed her M.Sc. Nursing in 1994. Thereafter, according to the appellant, she was posted as a Nurse in the Government General Hospital, Chennai-3 with instruction to utilize her services in the College of Nursing, Madras Medical College for teaching and accordingly, she started teaching in the College of Nursing, Madras Medical College.

(3.) THE appellant further stated that the next avenue of promotion is the post of Reader in Nursing and as per the Regulations framed by the Indian Nursing Council, which existed prior to December 2005, the qualification prescribed for promotion to the post of Reader is that person must have a Master's Degree in Nursing with teaching experience after M.Sc.Nursing in collegiate programme and the Adhoc Rules framed by the State Government also provided for a Master's Degree in Nursing with five years experience, out of which three years should be in teaching that in the year 2005, the Indian Nursing Council has issued amended Regulations as per which the Post of Reader is to be held by a person having a Master's Degree in Nursing with ten years experience after M.Sc. Nursing in a college of Nursing and it is only if a candidate is not available with such experience of five years of experience in a College of Nursing with an aggregate of ten years teaching experience can be considered and the Regulations also provide for a person having independently published work of high standard or a doctorate degree or M.Phil would be desirable. According to the appellant, the Adhoc Rules framed by the State Government for the post of Reader have not been amended consistent with the Regulations of the Indian Nursing Council and the Adhoc Rules framed by the State Government continued to provide only for M.Sc. Degree in Nursing with five years experience in Nursing out of which three years shall be in teaching as a Lecturer in Nursing or its equivalent in the University Nursing students in a College of Nursing. THE appellant further contended that she is the only person who is fully qualified as per the Regulations framed by the Indian Nursing Council for promotion to the post of Reader with ten years experience in M.Sc. Nursing in a College of Nursing and the official respondents are reckoning the qualification prescribed by the Adhoc Rules to be applicable for promotion to the post of Reader and are actively considering the claims of respondents 3 and 4, who do not possess the experience qualifications prescribed by the Nursing Council. On such grounds, she has filed W.P.No.23560 of 2006, praying for a Writ of Mandamus to direct the respondents 1 and 2 to consider and promote only such of those Lecturers to the post of Readers in the College of Nursing with the qualification prescribed by the Indian Nursing Council as published in the Regulation for Establishing College of Nursing (B.Sc. Nursing) in letter dated 6.12.2005.