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The Himachal Pradesh high court on Monday dismissed in limine a PIL filed by a doctor of Kangra district assailing the order of deputation to a COVID makeshift hospital in Una district.

“This is rather an unfortunate case where a doctor, who has been ordered to be posted at a Covid Make Shift Hospital, on deputation basis, has instead of joining and protecting precious human lives, has filed the instant writ petition assailing the order of deputation.”

The Division Bench of Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Chander Bhusan Barowalia while disposing of the petition observed that,

“We gather an impression that the petitioner is trying to escape from duties and responsibilities that have now been assigned to him. We are quite sure that the petitioner by claiming himself to be a front line worker against the fight of Covid-19 must have got himself vaccinated out of turn, but is now shirking from his responsibility.”

The facts of the present case state that the petitioner belongs to District Kangra and since 2015 is in the said District. In the year 2018, the petitioner was appointed as a Medical Officer (Anesthesia) at Civil Hospital, Dehra and vide notification dated 11.11.2020, was ordered to be transferred on deputation basis to Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Chamba. But, according to the petitioner, the deputation order was cancelled on the basis of a representation made by him. Now, vide order dated 27.04.2021, the petitioner has been ordered to be transferred on deputation basis to the Make Shift Hospital, Palakwah, District Una, H.P.

The bench observed that, the only ground for assailing the order of deputation is that the petitioner in the year 2018 had met with an accident and remained hospitalized for a period of five months. The petitioner suffered Lumber, Spine and Sacrum injuries in the said accident and would, therefore, be unable to serve at the place of deputation.

However, the court found no merit in such contention as there is no contemporaneous records to show that the petitioner is in any manner incapacitated to serve at the transferred station. Infact, if the petitioner is fit enough to render his services at Civil Hospital, Dehra, which incidentally, happens to be his Home Tehsil, the bench saw no reason as to why he cannot serve at the Covid Make Shift Hospital, Palakwah, District Una.

The bench observed that,

“A government servant is a holder of a status and that cannot be made depending on his will. Once, a person accepts the status as per rules, he no longer remains a simple individual only, but an integral part of Governance and at times even in the face of the Government. In the garb of self-unwillingness to serve, the petitioner cannot be permitted to shirk from his duties and responsibilities. This tendency has to be dealt and curbed with an iron fist.”

The bench further observed that,

‘The State currently is fighting the grimmest battle against Covid-19 which is nothing short of a disaster culminating in mass deaths and, therefore, it is imperative that the front line workers are made to work on rotation basis or else the health system is likely to collapse with the sudden and drastic surge in Covid-19 cases.”

Case title - Dr. Vishal Koundal v. State of Himachal Pradesh and others.