CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has directed commissioner-cum-secretary of state Health and Family Welfare Department Aswathy S to appear in person to explain why action under contempt of court shall not be initiated against her for non-compliance of an order issued by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) seven years back.
The single judge bench of Justice BP Routray issued the direction on Thursday for Aswathy’s personal appearance on September 27 on a contempt petition filed by Dr Sarmistha Padhy, an adhoc assistant professor (Social Preventive Medicine) at MKCG medical college and hospital, Berhampur on July 20, 2013.
The contempt plea was regarding failure of commissioner-cum-secretary of the department to comply with the SAT’s August 30, 2017 order to take appropriate decision within a month for filling up the posts that remained vacant due to non-joining of candidates selected pursuant to the two advertisements in 2015-16. The petitioner, an applicant, who was next in the merit list after four posts remained vacant due to non-joining of some of the candidates selected for 11 posts of assistant professor (Social Preventive Medicine) at SCB medical college (Cuttack), VSS medical college (Burla) and MKCG medical college (Berhampur) in 2016.
Advocate Ramakanta Sarangi made submissions on the petitioner’s behalf when the matter was taken up for hearing on Thursday and a compliance affidavit by present commissioner-cum-secretary of the department was presented before the court. State counsel Rabi Narayan Mishra contended that all subsequent vacancies were filled up by due advertisements with OPSC.
However, Justice Routray said, “The compliance affidavit is not clear to satisfy the fact that the commissioner-cum-secretary has taken such decision to fill up those unfilled vacancies and in the opinion of this court the state counsel’s contention does not justify the compliance of direction of Odisha Administrative Tribunal dated 30th August 2017. The record is silent as to the decision taken by the authority to fill up those unfilled posts.”
The contempt petition was first filed before SAT in 2018, but was transferred to the high court in 2021 after the abolition of the Tribunal.