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HC
notice to Govt on anti-quota stir
New
Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notices
to the Centre, the Delhi Government and the Medical Council
of India (MCI) on a petition seeking to declare the ongoing
anti-quota strike by the doctors as illegal. According to
the petition filed by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
Medical Association, the Government had failed to invoke the
Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to stop the agitation.
The petitioner's counsel Prashant Bhushan claimed that several
patients from the poor strata had been put to inconvenience
due to the strike and the Government had failed to ensure
alternative arrangements. Posting the matter for further hearing
to June 1, a Division Bench headed by acting Chief Justice
Vijender Jain asked the respondents to file their replies
within two weeks.
The court also asked an explanation from the government and
the Medical Council of India, why they should not take disciplinary
action against the striking doctors. Under the 'Youth For
Equality' banner, the doctors and medical students of premier
medical colleges of Delhi -- Lady Hardinge Medical College,
All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Maulana Azad Medical
College, University College of Medical Sciences and Vardhman
Mahavir Medical College, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Guru
Tegh Bahadur, Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Narain Hospital - are on
a strike to protest the Government's reservation policy.
Resident and Junior doctors of Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Lal Bahadur
Shastri have also joined the stir. Police and Rapid Action
Force have been deployed in and around AIIMS where the medical
students started the indefinite hunger strike on May 13. More
students have joined the indefinite hunger strike at AIIMS.
At present 125 students are on indefinite hunger strike. Out
of 180 medical students, 130 on hunger strike have fainted
so far. On Monday, the Prime Minister asked the medicos to
resume duty and said he would look into report submitted by
the Group of Ministers on the matter from the view point of
all sections of society. But the medicos continued their agitation
since it had no mention of their demand. The students and
their supporters have been protesting for over ten days now,
wanting total rollback of a proposed quota-hike for Other
Backward Classes (OBC) in elite educational institutions,
and a review of the present reservation policy. At present,
government-funded colleges have to allocate 22.5 percent of
their seats to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
The proposed 27 percent reservation for the OBC students with
the existing 22.5 percent would take the total seats under
the quota category to nearly 50 percent, leaving only half
of the total seats for the General category students.
Anti-reservation protests in Jaipur and
Delhi