Plea in SC seeks inclusion of junior resident docs in 50 pc 'in-service' reservation for PG courses

New Delhi [India], June 13 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea seeking direction to concerned authorities to declare that the petitioners, who are Junior Resident Doctors, are eligible "in-service" doctors of ESIC/ESIS for the purposes of inclusion in reservation for PG courses.
The vacation bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Vikram Nath agreed to list the plea on Friday for a hearing.
The plea was mentioned by advocate Sachin Patil. The petition was moved by Junior Resident Doctors including Hemant Kumar Verma, who have completed their MBBS courses from Institutions/ Hospitals run by the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
The petition said that as per the prescribed regulations petitioners have to serve Hospitals of ESIC as in-service candidates for the period of five years, Petitioners have to give UG bond to that effect to the ESIC.
"Accordingly, Petitioners have executed bond in favour of Respondent ESIC. Accordingly, Petitioners were appointed as Junior Residents in the ESIS/ ESIC institutions. Petition submitted that similarly, ESIC institutions recruit Insurance."
"Medical Officers grade -II, (IMO-II) for the ESIC/ ESIS institutions. They further submitted that qualifications, entitlements, duties and responsibilities as well as the pay scale of junior resident doctors and IMO-II are one and the same. They further submitted that as per the policy, IMO-II working in the ESIC institutions has been given a 50 per cent reservation in PG medical seats in the ESIC Hospitals. They also submitted that though Petitioners are similarly placed junior resident doctors like IMO-II but they are not held to be eligible for said 50 per cent quota of ESIC Hospitals and therefore they called the policy of ESIC as arbitrary and discriminatory as it violets Article 14 of the Constitution," read the plea.
"It is submitted that ESIC has been granting benefit of reservation to one set of in-service candidates and denying the said benefit to another set of in-service candidates when both are at par and similarly placed," the petitioners said.
Hence, they have claimed that they are eligible "in-service" doctors of ESIC/ESIS for the purposes of inclusion in reservation for PG courses and sought direction to the Respondents ESIC and others to extend the 50 per cent "in-service" doctors reservation for PG courses to the Junior Resident Doctors serving in ESIC/ESIS institutions, the petition said. (ANI)