S.VAIDYANATHAN.J, P.T.ASHA, J.,cont.p.nurses case

MR.JUSTICE

Cont.P.No.683 of 2019 and

Sub.Appl.No.486 of 2019

S.VAIDYANATHAN.J,

AND

P.T.ASHA, J.,

The Contempt Petition petition has been filed since the orders of this Court in W.P.No.31213 of 2017 has not been complied with in the manner as directed by this Court.  The order dated 11.06.2018 in W.P.No.31213 of 2017 had clearly directed that the Core Committee would give the associations / concerned Nurses an opportunity of hearing and decide the matter on a case to case basis as to whether the nurses appointed on contract were performing the same duties as the Nurses in the Government Hospitals.  This exercise was to be completed within a period of six months from the date of that order.  Thereafter on 02.07.2018, it was once again reiterated that the scrutiny has to be done on a case to case basis and that the task has to be completed by the Core Committee within six months.  It appears that the scrutiny has not been done as directed by this Court.  Therefore, the Contempt had come to be filed.

2. This Court has been passing a slew of directions in this contempt proceedings. On 21.11.2022,  this Court had directed the then Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare Department, Chennai (Contemnor) to file an affidavit on or before

15.12.2022 admitting that she has been in contempt as the order of this Court for considering the matter on a case to case basis had not been complied with and the contemnor had attempted to justify the noncompliance.  Thereafter, this Court, after extracting the above, had given the directions to the Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare Department, Chennai, “to call for individual representations from each and everyone of the 10,000 nurses and thereby comply with the order dated 11.06.2018 passed by this Court in W.P.No.31213 of 2017”.  In the very same order, the following clarifications were also issued in paragraph 6 which reads as follows:-

“As observed above, the order of this Court for enhancement of salary of the contract Nurses has been complied with. The exercise of scrutinizing the duties performed by the contract Nurses, to ascertain whether they perform the same duties as regular Government Nurses appointed in Government hospitals, and thus entitled to the same pay and emoluments, which has to be done on a case to case basis shall be completed by the Core Committee within six months as earlier directed.“

The contemnor was directed to submit their report.

• On 04.01.2023, when the matter was listed, an affidavit dated 16.12.2022 was filed seeking further time to complete their exercise. Therefore, time was granted till 05.06.2023.  Thereafter, the matter was listed on 27.07.2023 and the Compliance Affidavit dated 05.07.2023 had been filed.  The scrutiny of which clearly spelt out that the order of examining the representations on a case to case basis has not been complied with and that there has been a delegation of their duties on the part of the Core Committee.  Therefore, the Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu,

Fort St.George, Chennai 600 009 was directed to appear before this Court on 23.08.2023.  On 23.08.2023, since the work had not been done as directed by this Court,  a suggestion was made for appointment of two retired High Court Judges only for the purpose of scrutinising and comparing with regard to the nature of work done by the contract nurses / MRB Nurses vis-a-vis regular nurses.  The respondent had taken time to get instructions and the mater was listed on 29.08.2023.  On 29.08.2023, an affidavit was filed by the Principal Secretary withdrawing the earlier report dated 29.05.2023 and submitted to this Court that the Core committee would individually scrutinize the forms on a case to case basis and ascertain the similarity in the nature of work and as to whether the contract nurses / MRB nurses were discharging their duties as that of the regular basis.  They had sought for twelve weeks to complete the exercise.   The matter was directed to be listed on 04.12.2023.

• On 13.12.2023, a compliance affidavit was filed along with the documents.  A scrutiny of the same would reveal that there were many assessment forms / scrutiny forms which had not been signed by the individual nurses and there was nothing to indicate if the representations and documents of those nurses had been taken into consideration. Therefore, this Court had directed the respondent to produce the application forms and other documents submitted by MRB nurses of Kanyakumari District as a sample case and the matter was directed to be listed on 15.12.2023.

5.On 15.12.2023, a compliance affidavit was filed by the Principal Secretary, and a perusal of it would indicate that the verification of the applications had been done at the institutional level after verifying the roster and records and an assessment / scrutiny form was prepared and signed by the institution head.  It  was these completed forms that had been considered by the Core Committee. Once again, the entire exercise has run foul of the various directions given by this Court. On a specific question as to whether the notices had been issued to each of those nurses as directed by the orders of this Court dated 21.11.2022, it was fairly conceded by the learned senior counsel appearing for the respondent that the same had not been done.  The learned senior counsel would represent that there are about 4000 applications which has to be considered after taking into account those contract nurses who have been regularised. This Court had directed the respondents to give the exact number of applications that had to be scrutinised and requested the petitioner to give the names of one representative for every district to assist  the scrutiny committee.  The Director of Medical and Rural

Health Service, Chennai letter dated 19.12.2023 addressed to the

Additional Chief Secretary to Government Health and Family Welfare Department, Chennai would show that it is 8262 applications: that has to be scrutinised.

6. Therefore, there has been a manifest non-compliance of the orders of this Court and though the act is contumacious, the learned senior counsel on behalf of the respondent has represented that the intent was never to scuttle the order of this Court.  Taking into account the interest of the contract nurses who have been fighting for all these years and the fact that the scrutiny on a case to case has not been done in the manner as directed by this Court is passing the following directions:

• this Court appoints Mr.Justice V.PARTHIBAN and Mr.Justice V.BHARATHIDASAN, retired judges of this Court as Scrutiny Committee.  There shall be paid an initial remuneration of Rs.3,00,000/- each and expenses towards the travel, accommodation and food shall be borne by the Government.
  • The Officers of the Health Department and the

Officers in each district shall collate the application forms /documents submitted by each of the individual nurses and the assessment forms and submit the same to the scrutiny committee.  The exercise shall be done by the end of the first week of January 2023.

• The scrutiny committee shall conduct the scrutiny in the headquarters of each district and during this scrutiny all the registers which deals with the work done by the individual nurses of that district shall be presented before the Scrutiny Committee.
  • Apart from the Officials concerned, the following District Representatives of the petitioner-Association shall also be present to assist the Scrutiny Committee.

S. No	District	Name representative	of	Working Station in which they are employed as contract nurses
1	Chennai	A.     Sam   Stella 7358241787	–	Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Egmore, Chennai 600008
2	Thriuvallur	S.Sentil      Kumar 9600436342	–	Government College Thiruvallur	Medical Hospital
3	Kanchipuram	M.Manjula 8778410937	–	Government Health Centre,	Primary Molachur
4	Chengalpet	P           .Narmadha 9626276317	–	Government         Primary Health                   Centre, Thiruneermalai
5	Ranipet	R.             Kumari 9751029230	–	Government            Urban Primary Health Centre, Ranipet
6	Vellore	C.     Hemachandran 9840723427	–	Government            Urban Primary Health Centre, Vellore
7	Thiruvannam alai	M.    Sudhakaran 9600583027	–	Government         Primary Health                   Centre, Periakulam
8	Tirpatoor	L. Vimala Sangeetha – 8668146871		Government Hospital, Thirupatoor
9	Villupuram	M. Ashok Madhavan – 8098902405		Government         Primary Health                   Centre, Anumanthai
10	Kallakurichi	K.            Satheesh           – 8754679981		Government         Primary Health Centre, Melur

11	Krishnagiri	A.           Mercila           – 9626644412	Government Upgraded Primary Health Centre, Shoolagiri
12	Dharmapuri	N.      Arivazhagan           – 8072750155	Government          Head Quarters Hospital , Pennagaram
13	Cuddalore	M.N. Prawsanth    – 8526498640	Government          Head Quarters                 hospital, Cuddalore
14	Salem	P.          Sangeetha         – 9790237962	Government Upgraded Primary Healrth Centre, Ariyapalayam, Pethanaickampalayam Taluk
15	Erode	V.       Arnold           Brown         – 6383149987	Government          Erode Medical            Collage, Perundurai
16	Namakkal	A.        Hemalatha         – 9940442276	Government Upgraded Primary Health Centre, Mohanur
17	Tiruppur	R. Meena – 7845152908	Government      Primary Health Centre, Chayur, Avinasi
18	Coimbatore	S. Thangamuneeswari – 9944266258	Government      Medical Collage, Coimbatore
19	Nilgiris	A.      Nalkis           Begum         – 7639600257	Government         Urban Primary Health Centre, Nelliyalam
20	Karur	M. Devi – 86376063232	Government Hospital, Mylampatti
21	Tiruchirapalli	R.          Gomathi          – 6379035553	Government      Primary Health                Centre, Topsengattupatty
22	Perambalur	M. Priya – 8940500189	Government      Primary Hospital,  Maruvatoor
23	Ariyalur	R.         Raghavan         – 8148833158	Government      Primary Health                Centre, Vizhapallam
24	Theni	K. Muthumariammal –	Gandhiji Government

		9626493111	Hospital, Kambam
25	Madurai	D. Raji – 9894741054	Government      Primary Health                  Cenre, Thuvariman
26	Sivagangai	M. Prasanna Priya – 9524007275	Government Hospital, karaikudi
27	Ramanathapu ram	S.         Vinodhini          – 7358148138	Government      Primary Health Centre, Natham, Parthibanur
28	Viruthunagar	S.       Jesudelqueen           – 7548806680	Community          Health Centre, Uppathur
29	Thenkasi	J.        Belix Monica           – 8056511890	Goverment Upgraded Primary Health Centre, Puliyarai
30	Mayiladuthur ai	K. Geetha – 9944758998	Government      Primary Health                  Cenre, Keezhaiyur
31	Thanjavur	C.           Rashya           – 7373934533	Government      Primary Health Centre, Koviladi
32	Thiruvarur	P.          Anbarasi          – 7401679221	Government      Primary Health Cenre, Kulikarai
33	Nagapattinam	K.        Ramkumar        – 9677427847	Government      Medical Collage, Nagapattinam
34	Pudhukottai	V.         Vanmathi         – 9442060286	Government      Primary Health Cenre, Arimalam
35	Dindugal	A.      Rose Dhanam           – 8012252596	Government      Primary Health                Centre, Gopalapatti
36	Tuticorin	R.M.        Vignesh         – 8940644183	Government      Primary Health                Centre, Thenthiruperai
37	Tirunelveli	S.         Jebasheela         – 6380529631	Government Upgraded Primary Health Centre, Panagudi
38	Kanyakumari	N. Subin – 9790600202	Government Hospital, Colechel

(iv) The Scrutiny Committee shall file their report on 08.03.2024.

Post the matter on 08.03.2024.

[S.V.N.,J]       [P.T.A.,J]                      18.12.2023

srn

S.VAIDYANATHAN.J,

AND

P.T.ASHA, J.

Cont.P.No.683 of 2019 and Sub.Appl.No.486 of 2019

18.12.2023