The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Doctors’ plea: State gets time till March 26 High Court Round-up

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Doctors’ plea: State gets time till March 26 High Court Round-up

Special Correspondent

Kochi: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday gave the State government time till March 26 to submit a report of the working group constituted to look into the grievances of the government medical officers.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice K.T. Sankaran passed the order when a writ petition seeking to declare illegal the doctors’ strike and also a petition filed by the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) seeking to rectify the pay anomalies came up for hearing.

The court had earlier directed the working group to look into the grievances of the doctors.

When the petition was taken up, the Advocate General pointed out that the working group held discussions with the representatives of the KGMOA. The government was not happy with the discussions. So, the working group would have a further discussion with the doctors on March 17.

Marayur case

While hearing another petition, the Bench felt that an organisation such as CBI could not take inconsistent stand before the court regarding the investigation of crimes. The court made the observation when a petition seeking a direction to the CBI to take over the investigation into the Marayur sandalwood smuggling cases came up for hearing. The court pointed out that in another case, the CBI had taken the stand that it could not investigate the case because of lack of infrastructure and manpower. But, in the present case, the CBI was willing to conduct an investigation if the court passed an order to the effect. The court directed the CBI to file a counter-affidavit clarifying the issue before the court.

Status quo on eviction

The Bench comprising Justice P.R. Raman and Justice V.K. Mohanan ordered that status quo be maintained with respect to eviction of 36 occupants of a government land at Mangulam in Idukki district.

The Bench passed the order on a batch of writ petitions filed by 36 landless agriculture labourers. They contended that they had been occupying the land for 15 to 20 years. So, they were entitled to get the land assigned in their name.

Sabarimala godown

The Bench directed the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to consider an alternative proposal for constructing a godown at Neelimala later. The Board could use the space occupied by the earlier Aravana contractor at Sabarimala for storing the Aravana containers.

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