HC upholds sack of nurses
By Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 1 — "An undissipated attention to the sick is the first requirement and the foremost duty of a nurse. Any neglect is a serious crime. When we sacrifice duty to fulfil a desire, we betray a serious and sacred trust," observed Mr Justice Jawaharlal Gupta and Mr Justice N.C. Khichi while dismissing two petitions filed by nurses working at General Hospital, Kaithal, challenging their dismissal from service for participating in a strike.

In a landmark judgement delivered yesterday, Mr Justice Jawaharlal Gupta observed that the petitioners and other staff nurses of Haryana were employed to take care of the sick.

"They sacrificed the duty and have betrayed the trust. There is no equity in their favour. They deserve no sympathy," he added.

"It appears that with the material advancement, man is losing in moral values. The 19th century had given the world Florence Nightingale — the lady with the lamp. This English nurse was the founder of "nursing as a profession for women". She gave care and comfort to the sick and suffering humanity.

"In the 20th century, when man has made material progress, we have nurses who go on strike. Instead of giving care and comfort to the patients in the hospitals, they show a callous indifference. In the first decade of the present century, the King of England had conferred on Florence Nightingale — "The Order of Merit". Keeping in view the change in attitude, it is not surprising that in the last decade of the century, the state of Haryana has been forced to order the removal of striking nurses from service," observed Mr Justice Gupta in his hard-hitting seven-page order.

Upholding the orders of the department in dismissing petitioners from service, the Bench observed: "We hope and trust that the orders passed by the department will serve as an example to the employees everywhere. Let it be clearly understood that the court shall not help those who do not perform their duties. Those who ignore this message shall do so at their own peril."

The petitioners, including Ms Veena Rani, had been working as Staff Nurse at General Hospital, Kaithal. On May 31 this year, they went on strike along with a large number of other employees. The Department of Health of the Haryana Government in its letter dated July 3, ordered the striking nurses to return to duty within 24 hours. They were warned that in case of failure, "strict disciplinary action will be taken". They still did not report for duty. On July 9, 1998, the Director-General of Health Services, Haryana, issued the orders under the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1987, and Article 311 (2) (b) of the Constitution of India for the removal of the petitioners from service with immediate effect.

The petitioners alleged that they had reported back for duty on July 15. The order of punishment could have been served on them thereafter. They further alleged that a number of other members of nursing staff at Kaithal who had also joined the strike and had even been taken in custody have been allowed to join duty and orders of termination have not been served upon them. They prayed that their termination from service be quashed and they should be reinstated.

The court observed that the orders of the Director-General of Health Services had a clear implication that the employees should report for duty before July 10. The petitioners had not reported for duty by then. Thus, they were not entitled to any indulgence.

When the counsel for petitioners argued that the action of the government suffers from the vice of discrimination in as much as no punishment has been awarded to one, Ms Asha, and seven other employees.

"This contention is misconceived. Two wrongs never make a right. It is the admitted position that the petitioners had resorted to an illegal strike. They had struck work in spite of the notification dated May 26 by which they had been debarred from going on strike. The petitioners had neglected to perform their duties. In this situation, even if it is assumed that no action has been taken against various other persons, it cannot be said that the orders passed against the petitioners are vitiated," Mr Justice Gupta said in his order.

Both the petitions were dismissed in limine.

Udham Singh Nagar: bandhs begin in UP

LUCKNOW Aug 1 (UNI) — The demand for inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar in the proposed Uttarakhand state gained momentum in the hills of Uttar Pradesh with the commencement of a series of bandhs from today.

The Kumaon Students Union supported by the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and other organisations enforced closure of government offices and markets in Nainital, Almora, Pithoragarh and Champawat. The bandh was partial in Udham Singh Nagar.

No untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the Kumaon region, an official spokesman said.

Various political and non-political organisations had intensified their demands to settle the issue.

The bar associations in the hills have already given a call to observe an Uttarakhand bandh tomorrow.

The state administration has taken all precautionary measures for tomorrow's bandh.

A mass awareness programme from August 9 to August 16 has also been proposed in Udham Singh Nagar.

In another significant decision, the Uttar Pradesh Government has reconstituted the Hill Development Council with Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, as its ex-officio chairman and Uttaranchal Development Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank its senior deputy chairman.

All the three ministers of state for Uttaranchal Development — Mr Matbar Singh Kandari, Banshidhar Bhagat and Narain Ramdas, have been named junior deputy chairmen of the council. All MLAs, MLCs and chiefs of zila panchayats elected from the Uttaranchal region have also been included in the council.

It will also have seven non-government members, who are experts on hill development, a social worker from each district of Uttaranchal, nine retired officers having experience of working in hill region, and the vice-chancellor of Pant Nagar University.

The Chief Secretary will be its ex- officio Chief Executive Officer and Principal Secretary, Uttaranchal Development its ex-officio Additional Chief Executive Officer. The headquarters of the council will be based in Lucknow.

HVC 3-week ultimatum to BJP
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 1 — Fissures have started appearing in the BJP and HVC alliance, with the latter virtually serving a three-week ultimatum to Mr P.K, Dhumal, Chief Minister, for accepting its demand for a CBI probe into charges against former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and sort out other irritants.

The state executive of the party which met here last night under the chairmanship of Mr Sukh Ram, president, expressed anguish over the inordinate delay in taking up action on the charge sheet submitted against Mr Virbhadra Singh. The indifferent attitude of the government towards this important and sensitive matter raised doubts regarding its intentions. The committee made it clear that there could be no compromise on this issue, which was the main election plank of the two parties, as the people had by and large voted for exposing the alleged misdeeds of the Virbhadra government.

The committee decided to seek a categorical assurance from Mr Dhumal that the cases mentioned in the charge sheet would be handed over to the CBI latest by August 20.

The committee was the unanimous view that the HVC was not being treated as a coalition partner by the BJP leadership. While the election manifesto of the BJP had been adopted as a policy document of the government, no mention had been made anywhere about the HVC manifesto.

Besides working out a common minimum programme, the party also demanded the setting up of coordination committees at the state and district levels for removing irritants and ensuring the smooth functioning of the coalition government.

The party regretted that the Budget speech, of Mr Dhumal failed to mention the role of the HVC in dislodging the Congress government and also omitted charges against Mr Virbhadra Singh.

It demanded due representations in various boards, corporations and state, district and block level committees so that the partymen could feel that they were also part of the government.

It urged the BJP to reciprocate the sprit of sacrifice and accommodation exhibited by the HVC in providing tactical support for the installation of a coalition government and leave the Baijnath assembly seat for it.

The party hoped that the government would accept its demands within the stipulated period, but also handed out a veiled threat to withdraw support by stating that it would be "constrained to review the political situation and take appropriate action" if no steps were taken to sort out the contentious issues.