HP HC says govt ‘needs to mend its ways’, follow its directions

Shimla: Taking a dim view of the delay in filling up sanctioned posts in Himachal Pradesh primary health centres (PHCs) and overstaffing in some centres to accommodate "kith and kin", the Himachal Pradesh high court has warned that the state govt “needs to mend its ways” to ensure compliance of court orders.
The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Satyen Vaidya, in its order released on Wednesday, directed the state govt to take effective steps for implementing the court orders and asked the health secretary to file a status report by the next date of hearing.

On the previous date of hearing, the state govt had informed the high court that 102 posts of medical officers, 116 posts of pharmacists and 81 posts of Class-IV in various PHCs were still lying vacant. The bench observed, “Ordinarily, we would not have hesitated to draw proceedings for contempt against the respondents, however, this by itself would not resolve the issue that the court is confronted with.”
The division bench on Tuesday had also directed the central govt to file a report regarding the receipt of the fund utilization certificate submitted by the state govt for the previous years and apprise the court on the next hearing on whether any funds can be made available to the state govt “given the fact that it has surrendered some funds earlier”.
On Nov 9, 2020, the HC had pointed out that the state govt had been acting in violation of the guidelines issued on April 7, 2016, which mandates that each PHC should have one doctor, one pharmacist and one Class-IV employee. The court had then expressed concern that probably these 2016 guidelines were being violated by the state govt “with impunity only to accommodate the kith and kin, which is contrary to the policy.” The state govt also informed the high court that apart from the doctors, pharmacists and Class-IV, many medical officers, midwives, drivers, dental hygienists have been posted in PHCs.