DOCTORS CAN GO ON STRIKE : HC

DOCTORS CAN GO ON STRIKE : HC 23 Jan 2009, 0156 hrs IST, TNN Text: BANGALORE: Government doctors cannot go on strike, directed the Karnataka High Court here on Thursday. Pulling up the state government for its lenient approach towards government doctors who went on statewide strike for four days in November, the court took note of the government ignoring the provisions of the Karnataka State Civil Service Prevention Of Strikes (Act) and asked it to take stringent action against striking doctors. “If a doctor is assaulted, the proper thing is to file a case and proceed under general law. That is not a ground for going on strike. So, whatever be the reason, even if it is bona fide grievances, it is not proper for government servants, that too doctors who are to serve the poor, to resort to strike. They can adopt other statutory measures available to them but not strike. If anybody resorts to strike, the government may act against them strictly as per law. The government should also look into their reasonable demands and fulfil them,’’ the division Bench headed by Chief Justice P D Dinakaran observed. The court complimented the honesty and sincerity of those doctors who served the patients during the strike period and asked the government to reward them. Earlier, the government advocate told the court that salaries of the 4,015 doctors who went on strike between November 10-13 had been cut. “Doctors have a duty to save people. When advocates cannot go on strike, the doctors also cannot. We are not happy with the government. Why are you afraid of them,’’ the court asked. The counsel for the Karnataka Medical Officers’ Association told the court that since 2006 they had given representations 19 times with regard to pay disparity, non-filling of 4,000 posts and attacks from the public. There are about 4,000 government doctors and about 3,000 are on contract basis, he explained to the court. S Vasudeva, city advocate who has filed the PIL, told the court that in 2005 the high court had directed the state government to take adequate steps to prevent recurrence of such strikes by looking into the reasonable demands.

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