Delhi High Court has expressed its anguish with the Union health minister for disregarding its order and asking employees of erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI) to vacate the building.
The court has also issued a contempt notice to the ministry and the new medical education regulator National Medical Commission (NMC).
On October 5, the health ministry asked all the 92 permanent employees of MCI to vacate its premise with immediate effect.
Before that, the high court had ordered the ministry not to disturb the employment status of all these employees.
The dispute between the government and the MCI employees started in 2019 when the National Medical Commission Act, which was passed to replaced the Medical Council of India, made a provision for their termination.
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It was alleged that all the employees of MCI were involved in corruption hence they would not be accommodated in the NMC.
When the consultation process for the legislation was going on, the parliamentary standing committee had advised the government to protect the employment of lower-level workers but the government ignored it.
After the NMC Act came into effect on August 8, 2019, the employees approached Delhi High Court and questioned the termination on a vague and sweeping allegation of corruption. The court had granted a status quo then.
Despite that, the ministry on October 5, 2020, issued a circular and said that according to the high court order, their services would continue but they would have to vacate the building.
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However, the employees protested the circular calling it a violation of the court’s status quo order and approached the high court.
