HC rules junior doctor's strike illegal

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad High Court declared the strike of members of the Junior Doctors Association (JUDA) of Telangana illegal and said the strike was unrelated to their engagement. The junior doctors have been on strike for the last 50 days.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar delivered its final judgment on a public interest litigation petition by B Ravi Kiran Swamy seeking to declare the ongoing strike illegal.

The bench asked the junior doctors to resume duty within 48 hours and directed the Telangana government not to resort to any penal action against them for the next 48 hours keeping in view of their future. Doctors being the lifesavers should not resort to strikes, it remarked.

Referring to the argument of the State government that it cannot take a decision on the demand pertaining to rural service, the bench directed the government to find a solution to other legitimate demands of the junior doctors promptly by initiating negotiations.

Maintaining that the court acknowledges the medical profession as a noble service, the bench said the government is at liberty to take action against the striking doctors if they fail to resume their duties after 48 hours, strictly in accordance with law.

Senior counsel, appearing for the junior doctors, earlier submitted that they had already specified their demands before the government and there was no transparency with regard to serving in the rural areas.

On the other hand, the State counsel submitted that the government had accepted four demands of the junior doctors and the fifth demand with regard to rural service was mandated by the Centre.

Junior Doctor's to continue strike

Even as the Hyderabad High Court deemed the ongoing Telangana Junior Doctors' Association (TJUDA) strike as illegal, the doctors claimed that the judgment is favourable to them and appreciated the verdict.

TJUDA members have been on strike for the last 50 days. 'The High Court has accepted our demands as genuine and has given the government 48 hours to solve the pending issues. We will continue the agitation and we are waiting for the judgement copy to come,' said Dr G Aditya, a TJUDA member.

He said: 'The Supreme Court had said last week that doctors' strike cannot be dubbed illegal and the High Court cannot call our strike illegal.' Dr Girisha Pindi said, 'The judgment asked our demands to be met like providing high salary, regularisation of stipend, CRPF forces in hospitals, among others.'