TARUN AGARWALA, J. - (1.) IN order to streamline the medical practice in the State of U.P., a learned Single Judge issued various directions to the State Government. Direction No. 8 which is relevant for the purpose of this case is quoted hereunder : The Principal Secretary Medical Health and Family Welfare, is directed to ensure that no medical officer in the Government service is posted beyond three years in any District and that all para medical staff serving in the Primary Health Centre/Community Health Centre/District Hospitals and other hospitals run by Government of U.P. for more than five years, shall be transferred from the Centre/hospital. Any doctor in employment of State Government offering their services to the authorised medical practitioners shall face immediate disciplinary action by the State Government, and shall be prosecuted for aiding and abetting such unauthorized practice.
(2.) AGAINST the judgment of the learned Single Judge, a Special Appeal No. 320 of 2004, Dr. Ravindra Kumar Goyal and Ors. v. State of U.P. and Ors., was filed. The judgment of the learned Single Judge was affirmed subject to the modification with regard to direction No. 8. The Division Bench issued the following directions : In our opinion, it is correct to say that the principles of transfer are policy matters, and they should ordinarily be decided by the State Government and not by this Court. Hence, we modify direction No. 8 contained in the judgment of the learned Single Judge, and we hold that this directive shall be treated as a recommendation rather than a binding directive on the State Government. However, we would like to say that we fully agree and share the concern of the learned Single Judge in this connection. Obviously what motivated the learned Single Judge in issuing such a direction was that several Government doctors managed their place of posting in big cities for long periods as they have connections with high ups, and such Government doctors often run their private clinics also where they spend most of the time instead of attending their duties in Government hospitals. Hence, it is obvious that what the learned Single Judge intended to say was that this practice should be stopped as it would not be fair to other doctors who do not have connections with high ups and remain posted in the rural areas for a long time. We fully agree with the learned Judge that there should be fair treatment to all Government doctors and transparency in the matter. Hence, we direct the State Government to frame a scheme regarding transfer and posting of the Government doctors so as to ensure fair treatment to everyone and no special benefit to those who have contracts with high ups. This scheme framed by the State Government must not only provide for fair treatment to all Government doctors in the State regarding their transfer and posting, but also ensure that sufficient number of doctors are posted in rural areas in rotation, since presently the position is that even those who are technically posted in rural areas often do not go to rural areas except, say, for one or two days in a month for the sake of formality and they hardly stay there one or two hours and then come back to the cities. Because of this practice quacks have mushroomed in the rural areas because there are no Government doctors usually available in the rural areas. This is not fair to the people in the rural areas who are the majority in our country. The State Government must not only do posting of Government doctors in rotation to rural area but also ensure that those who are posted in rural areas really work there during their official hours. For this purpose the State Government must provide for suitable residential accommodation commensurate to the status of the doctors near the Family Health Centre/Community Health Centre where they are posted. Also such residential accommodation must be provided water, electricity and other basic essential facilities. In the absence of these it is unrealistic to expect the Government doctors to remain in rural area for a long period. Apart from that, we are of the opinion that the doctors who are posted in the rural areas should be given some adequate special allowances because they have to usually maintain double establishment since their wives and children usually remain in cities because their children are studying in schools there. The scheme mentioned above should ensure that there should be rotation between those who are posted in urban areas and those who are posted in rural areas so that a person who is posted for, say, three or four years in a city should thereafter be sent for 3 or 4 years to a rural area. Such a scheme would be fair to all Government doctors and thereby avoid unnecessary bickering and heart burning. The scheme framed by the State Government should also provide that the Government doctors who are conniving with the unauthorized medical practitioners [quacks] shall face disciplinary action and the scheme framed by the Government should also remove the possibility of the Government doctors in developing contacts with the quacks. The aforesaid judgment is reported in 2004 (2) ESC 976. The Division Bench, while modifying the direction of the learned Single Judge, held that the Scheme should ensure that there should be a rotation between those who are posted in the urban areas and those who are posted in the rural areas and that a person who was posted for three or four years in an urban area would thereafter be sent for three or four years to a rural area.
(3.) BASED on the aforesaid directions, the State Government framed a scheme dated 10 6 2004 with regard to the transfer of the persons employed in the medical department. The scheme contemplated that a paramedical staff would not remain in a District Hospital/Swasthya Kendra or Primary Health Centre for more than seven years and if para medical staff was to be transferred to another District in that event, the Chief Medical Officer would refer the matter to the Additional Director.;