PIL against strikes by docs dismissed

Mumbai: Holding that nothing remained in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against frequent strikes by resident doctors in light of the fact that the government had formed a committee to hear the grievances of the doctors, the Bombay high court dismissed the petition. The court also said that as the strikes had happened in 2015 and it was 2018, a realistic approach was required and hence dismissed the PIL.

A division bench of justices B.R. Gavai and B.P. Colabawalla was hearing the PIL filed by social activist Afak Mandaviya seeking restraining directions to doctors from resorting to strikes. The PIL had been filed after a spate of protests by resident doctors in the form of mass leaves had left many needy patients stranded in government hospitals.

The petition filed in 2015 had seen the state give undertakings to improve the security and safety of the doctors who were victims of assault by aggrieved relatives of patients as well as improving the living conditions of the doctors. On Tuesday, when the PIL came up for hearing government pleader Milind More informed the court that the strikes had taken place in 2015 and now it was 2018 and the PIL was still pending. In light of the fact that the government through a resolution had formed a committee under the additional chief secretary (home) who would address the issues of the doctors, nothing remained in the PIL, hence it should be dismissed.

Though Men Against Rape and Discrimination (MARD) opposed the contentions of the state, the bench accepted the submissions of More and said that pursuant to Supreme Court orders to be realistic in their approach to cases, as nothing remained in the petition it was being dismissed.