Kuldeep Singh & Others vs State Of Uttarakhand And Others

Raghvendra Singh Chauhan, CJ

All these appeals arise out of a common order, dated 26.03.2021, passed by the learned Single Judge in Writ Petition (S/S) No. 473 of 2021 and batch of cases, whereby the learned Single Judge has dismissed the writ petitions filed by the appellant-writ petitioners.

For the sake of convenience, the facts are taken out from Special Appeal No. 185 of 2021.

Briefly, the facts of the case are that the petitioners were appointed on daily wages on the post of Ambulance Cleaner / Helper with the Medical Health and Family Welfare Department. The petitioners discharged their services from 05.09.2013 till 31.03.2021. On 17.06.2020, the respondent-Department entered into a public private partnership contract with Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences (Shri Mahant Indresh Hospital) ("the Institute", for short), in order to improve and enhance the health facilities. According to the contract entered between the Institute and the Government, the Government had agreed that "it shall or shall cause all persons hired by the State Government at the Healthcare facilities to be transferred to other facilities owned, operated and maintained by the State Government For, the avoidance of doubt, it is clarified that such staff shall include all medical, paramedical and Class-IV employees, whether they have been hired on employment or contract basis." In pursuance of the said MOU, on 09.11.2020, the Principal Medical Superintendent, District Hospital, Pauri Garhwal, respondent No. 5, wrote a letter to the Director General for issuance of guidelines with regard to the daily wage or contract basis employees, who were under the employment of the District Hospital, Pauri. According to the petitioners, on 23.11.2020, the Transition Management Committee decided to re-deploy the government medical staff / paramedical support and contractual staff with the local authority. These employees could later be transferred to other facilities lacking in manpower. By letter dated 16.01.2021, even the Chief Medical Officer, Pauri Garhwal, the respondent No. 4, sent a proposal for continuing the services of the petitioners till March, 2021. On 08.02.2021, the Project Director, Uttarakhand Health Systems Development Project also wrote to the Director General, Medical Health for seeking directions for adjustment of the contractual employees, such as the petitioners. Moreover, according to the petitioners, on 01.02.2021, District Hospital, Pauri Garhwal was taken over by the Institute. Although the petitioners were entitled to be transferred or adjusted with the other Health facilities functioning in the State, on 06.02.2021, services of the petitioners were terminated by the Principal Medical Superintendent, District Hospital, District Pauri Garhwal, the respondent No. 5. Therefore, the petitioners filed their respective writ petitions before the learned Single Judge. By order dated 26.03.2021, the learned Single Judge has dismissed their petitions. Hence, these appeals before this Court.

Ever since these appeals were posted before this Court from 12.07.2021 till today, this Court has tried to ensure that the petitioners could be adjusted in government hospitals, which are functioning throughout the State. For this purpose, this Court had directed Mr. Vikas Pandey, the learned Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand, to seek instructions from the Government, whether these persons can be adjusted, or not? For according to this Court, once an MOU was signed by the State with the Institute, it was the bounden duty of the State to adhere to the MOU. The State cannot be permitted to hide behind the fig leaf of the privity of contract and to wriggle out its contractual obligations, ostensibly on the ground that no privity of contract exists between the petitioners and the State Government.

According to Mr. S.S. Chauhan, the learned Deputy Advocate General for the State, the petitioners could be employed though an outsourcing agency, such as Uttarakhand Purv Sainik Kalyan Nigam Limited (for short 'UPNL'). This Court was informed on 08.09.2021 that, in fact, the petitioners are registered with UPNL. Therefore, this Court had directed the learned counsel for the State to find out if the petitioners could can be employed through UPNL, and be adjusted in any of the government hospitals functioning in the State.

By order dated 22.11.2021, this Court had directed the Director General, Medical Health and Family Welfare, the Chief Medical Officer, District Pauri-Garhwal and the Principal Medical Superintendent, District Hospital, Pauri-Garhwal to be present before this Court through video-conferencing. Consequently, today Dr. Tripti Bahuguna, the Director General, Medical Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Praveen Kumar, the Chief Medical Officer, District Pauri-Garhwal and Dr. Ramesh Singh Rana, the Principal Medical Superintendent, District Hospital, Pauri-Garhwal are present before this Court.

Dr. Tripti Bahuguna informs this Court that presently there are no vacancies in Group 'D' cadre in any of the government hospitals. In fact, according to her, by letter dated 23.09.2021, the Department has sent a proposal to the State Government for creating 1701 Group-D posts. However, the said letter has not elicited any response from the Government. Even Dr. Praveen Kumar, the Chief Medical Officer, informs this Court that by letter dated 07.07.2021, he had requested for permission to fill-up forty-six vacancies. However, only thirty-two vacancies could be filled up due to the permission granted by the Government. Therefore, fourteen posts could not be filled-up.

Since this Court needed certain clarifications from the Secretary, Medical Health, this Court directed the Secretary, Medical Health, to join this Court through video-conferencing. Therefore, in the post-lunch session, Mr. Amit Negi, the Secretary, Medical Health, appeared before this Court through video-conferencing. Even Mr. Amit Negi states that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of Group-D posts were created. Presently, all the posts are filled-up; thus, presently, there are no vacancies. Hence, the appellants cannot be adjusted against any vacancy. Moreover, due to the financial crisis being faced by the State Government, the possibility of creating new posts is rather bleak.

Considering the position being taken by the Secretary, Medical Health and other Government officers, it is not possible for this Court to direct the respondents to adjust the appellants against any vacant posts, for there are none at the moment.

For the reasons stated above, this Court does not find any merit in the present appeals. Therefore, all these appeals are hereby dismissed.

In sequel thereto, pending application, if any, also stands disposed of accordingly.

No order as to costs.