Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, July 20: High Court today said inability of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Srinagar to place a doctor for the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation results into suffering of patient care.
Dismissing the appeal filed by SKIMS in which appointment of one Dr Tufail Muzaffar for the post of Assistant Professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation was challenged, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Rashid Ali Dar said, SKIMS is an important medical facility which caters to patients from all over the State of Jammu and Kashmir and the specialty of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is an important branch of medicine.
Court recorded in the judgment that as a consequence of the inability of the appellants-SKIMS to place a doctor in position in the stream, patient care in this discipline must also be suffering.
“It cannot be denied that as a result of lack of professor in the discipline, medical students in the State would have been deprived of the benefit of the skill, essential knowledge and experience in the subject”, DB added.
Court said, it cannot be denied that keeping the appointment to the post pending is detrimental to public interest. “In the present case, there was only one ground on which candidature of the respondent was rejected. In the reply which was filed before the Single Judge, the appellants-SKIMS have admitted that the reason for which Dr. Tufail’s candidature was rejected actually stood waived off by the Selection Committee. In view thereof, court said, rejection of the respondent-Dr Tufail was clearly mis-conceived.
Court also said that the admission of the SKIMS also completely tilts the balance of the case in favour of the candidate. “In this factual background, on consideration on the public interest in terms of the need for a doctor in the discipline to cater to thousands of patients visiting the appellant-institute as well as the interest of the students who have been deprived of qualified faculty in the discipline, it also has to be held that a very strong prima facie case was made out justifying the grant of interim order passed by the Single Judge”, DB concluded and dismissed the appeal of SKIMS finding therein no merit.
Authorities were asked by Writ Court to process the case of Dr. Tufail Muzaffar for appointment against the post of Assistant Professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for which he had applied. Instead of appointing him for the post in question the SKIMS authorities challenged this order primarily on the ground that this interim order tantamounts to grant of the main prayer made in the writ petition which is legally impermissible.
DB found that the SKIMS authorities have not disputed that the respondent-Muzaffar was the only candidate for the post of Assistant Professor, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and that they (SKIMS) had not been able to find any qualified candidate and not been able to effect the selection for this post for the period right from the issuance of first advertisement on 5th July, 2015.
“We find that apart from the bald assertion by SKIMS, they have not pointed out a single objection to the eligibility of the respondent for appointment to the post in question”, reads the DB judgment.
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