BENGALURU: A humble staff nurse, who devotes her working hours to the care of the sick and suffering, is herself made to suffer at the hands of an administration which ought to have protected her legitimate service interests.
The state, which is expected to be a model employer, cannot remain a mute spectator to such deprivation, much less become its instrumentality, the Karnataka High Court observed.
A division bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna and Justice Hema Kulkarni made these observations while seeking explanation from the district administration of Uttara Kannada by October 29, after hearing the appeal filed by Anasuya P Koti that she had not been issued caste validation certificate.
Anasuya, who has been working at KIMS, Hubballi, for over 16 years, has been taking home a consolidated salary of Rs 10,000 per month, despite the court issuing directions twice. Similarly placed staff are getting a regular pay scale of Rs 36,000 to Rs 67,550, after she got the caste validity certificate following the petition filed in 2016.
The court said the state shall now take notice and show cause as to why the loss of salary, allegedly suffered by the appellant during the past 15 years, should not be determined and recovered from the officers responsible for the prolonged non-issuance of Caste Validity Certificate, subject, of course, to ascertainment of their responsibility and entitlement of the appellant.
