The High Court of Karnataka on Monday granted stay on the notice issued by the Health and Family Welfare Department to doctors for violating bond conditions by not serving in rural government hospitals.

The department had slapped a notice on 200 such doctors and asked them to pay a penalty for not adhering to the undertaking they had given during admission to the course.

Dr Divya and 199 others had moved the court challenging the notice issued by the health department asking each of them to pay Rs 3.5 lakh towards penalty for violating the bond conditions that they signed while availing a government medical seat.

The petitioners submitted that after a lapse of several years, the health department issued notice on May 20, 2017.

The petitioners also challenged the notice issued by the Karnataka Medical Council on May 29 asking the petitioners why action for “professional misconduct” should not be taken against them.

The petitioners contended that they were under the impression that the government does not require their services or that there are not sufficient posts to accommodate all of them in hospitals.

The petitioners argued that when the high court has granted a stay on the implementation of the Karnataka Compulsory Service Training by Candidates Completed Medical Course Act, 2012, the government is serious about collecting penalties for violation of the bond.

Justice G Narendar, granting stay on the notices issued to the petitioners, issued notice to the state government and to the Karnataka Medical Council and adjourned the next hearing to June 19.

PIL dismissed
The High Court of Karnataka dismissed a PIL challenging the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar card as a requisite for applying for the Karnataka Public Service Commission’s (KPSC) 401 posts of gazette probationers for the year 2015.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar dismissed the PIL filed by Dr Aslam Gurukkal U. 

The petitioner contended that when the Supreme Court has ruled that Aadhaar was not mandatory, KPSC was insisting on a copy of the Aadhaar card along with the application form.

The bench asked the petitioner if he was an aggrieved person and after knowing that he was not one of the aspirants, the bench dismissed the PIL for want of merit in the case.