Petition against doctors’ selection dismissed, appointments to resume

Petitioner Sagaya Panimalar, of Virudhunagar, in her petition, had stated that the notification for selecting Assistant Civil Surgeons was rolled out in November 2016 and 2,500 doctors were selected on that basis. However, based on the same notification, the government is trying to recruit the same number of doctors again which is illegal.

So, the second round of selection of doctors should not be carried out based on the first notification and the court should direct the government to issue a new notification to select doctors, prayed the petitioner. Earlier, the court had issued an interim stay on the selection of doctors based on the same notification in July 2017. 

When the petition was heard on Wednesday, the court, however reversed its decision. The judges said that there is already a severe shortage of doctors in the state and deadly diseases like dengue are also spreading fast. 

To tackle the menace of dengue, there should be more doctors and hence, the appointment of doctors cannot be stayed. The court also directed the government to appoint the required doctors and to continue the appointment process, by saying so the plea was dismissed.