The Delhi high court has rapped the MCD for “exploiting” nursing personnel by appointing them to a lower grade post and making them carry out the duties of higher grade staff, saying that it amounted to “ad-hocism”.
“Practice followed by the MCD of appointing Grade-B staff nurses against the posts of Grade-A staff nurses and to make them work in the same fashion for several years is nothing but ad-hocism and it is nothing but exploiting the situation of the nursing personnel,” Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said.
The court passed the observation while allowing 27 Grade-B nursing staff to be promoted as Grade- A staff, 20 years after a petition was filed in the Delhi high court by the MCD challenging the order of the Industrial Tribunal.
Opposing the plea of nurses, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi contended before the court that the educational qualification and the examination for appointment as a Grade-A staff nurse was different from that for a Grade-B staff nurse.
The court, however, turned down its plea saying the Municipal Corporation of Delhi through its circular in 1974 relaxed criteria of educational qualification and of examination.
“There was no requirement of completing educational qualification or to undertake any examination. The MCD cannot now turn around and contend that the educational qualification and the examination is also a necessary criteria,” the court said.
Citing an apex court judgement, the court noted that the initial minimum educational qualification prescribed for the different posts is undoubtedly a factor to be reckoned with, but it was so at the time of initial entry into the service.
“Considering the nature of duties to be performed by nurses, practical experience far outweigh the educational qualifications and passing qualifying exam,” it said.
Most of the nursing staff had been working as Grade-A employee for between three and 20 years.
The tribunal had passed the order in 1979 allowing all Grade-B nurses having three years’ experience to be promoted to Grade-A saying a person who had worked for that period in a capacity, knows all the duties and functions of that post.