HP High Court restores staff nurse’s job, quashes Health Dept termination order
Shimla, Dec 17:
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has quashed the termination of a staff nurse appointed under the OBC-BPL category, holding that she was not at fault and had neither misrepresented facts nor committed any fraud.
Allowing the writ petition of Ms Kajal Mehra, Justice Sandeep Sharma set aside the Health Department’s order dated August 31, 2024, which had withdrawn her contractual appointment nearly two years after she joined service.
Mehra was appointed as a Staff Nurse in March 2022 following batch-wise counselling conducted by the Health and Family Welfare Department.
Her appointment was later cancelled on the ground that the post was meant for the 2011 batch, whereas she had acquired the requisite qualification in December 2014. The withdrawal followed a vigilance complaint highlighting the batch mismatch.
The High Court observed that the Selection Committee had full knowledge of her qualification year at the time of appointment and there was no allegation of fraud, concealment or manipulation against her.
The court also noted that no eligible OBC-BPL candidate from the relevant batch was available and no loss was caused to the public exchequer, as Mehra had worked against a sanctioned post and rendered services for over three years.
Calling the termination “harsh and oppressive”, the court held that the mistake, if any, was on the part of the Selection Committee and not the petitioner.
Relying on Supreme Court judgments protecting innocent beneficiaries of administrative errors, the court ruled that removing Mehra from service at this stage would serve no public interest.
The High Court allowed the petition and directed that Mehra be continued in service. It clarified that her claim for regularisation shall be considered separately in accordance with applicable policy.
All pending applications were disposed of.
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