PRADEEP KUMAR ATRI Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CMP No. 12585 of 2020 in CWP No. 3401 of 2020 This application is allowed, as prayed for and the applicant is impleaded as respondent No. 4 in CWP No. 3401 of 2020. The application stands disposed of accordingly. CWPs No. 2101, 3401, 3463 and 3786 of 2020 & CMP No. 12586 of 2020 in CWP No. 3401 of 2020

(2.) The petitioners before this Court are the Medical Officers, who have undergone Post Graduation in respective specialties. Their grievance is that for the purpose of undergoing Senior Residency Course, the policy which has been formulated by the State Government contemplates one year's mandatory "field posting" and a candidate, who has not served in an Institution, which is designated as "field posting" Institution by the respondent-Department, is rendered ineligible to compete for the post of Senior Resident, ignoring the fact that as the posting of a Medical Officer is not the prerogative of the Officer concerned, but that of the Department, in these circumstances, petitioners who have served after completing their Post Graduation at the places of posting/Institutions as directed by the Department, are now being made to suffer for no fault of theirs. In other words, the contention of the petitioners is that the condition of mandatory "field posting" can be imposed upon a Medical Officer, who expressly is directed by the Department to serve in an Institution which is situated in field but who has refused to do so and not upon officers who were never posted in such like institutions.

(3.) Mr. Dilip Sharma, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioners has argued that the petitioners after completing their Post Graduation have served for one year in those places/stations, wherever they were posted by the employer to serve. It is not as if the petitioners were called upon by the Department to serve in rural areas or places construed as field postings and they refused to do so. Thus, Mr. Sharma submits that here is a case where though posting of the officer at a station is the prerogative of the employer, yet the condition of one year's mandatory service in an Institution which is designated as "field posting", is now becoming an impediment in the case of the petitioners for their eligibility to compete for the post of Senior Resident, for the reason that the petitioners were not posted in the Institutions, which can be termed as "field posting" Institutions after completing their Post Graduation by the Department. Mr. Sharma has also drawn the attention of this Court to an earlier judgment of this Court passed in CWP No. 2888/2019, titled as Dr. Ashish Sharma and others vs. State of Himachal Pradesh and others and other connected matters. By referring to the observations made by this Court in para 7 thereof, he submits that these petitions can be disposed of in terms of the observations which were so contained in para 7 of the judgment supra. Mr. Mukul Sood, learned Counsel for the petitioners in CWP No. 3786 of 2020 has adopted the arguments of learned Senior Counsel.