Allahabad High Court directs BHU authorities to allow employee to join new AIIMS appointment: Relieve him immediately directs the court:
Expressing concern over dilly dallying attitude of BHU authorities, the Allahabad High Court has directed the BHU administration to forthwith relieve the petitioner – Nitin Kumar from the services of the BHU so that he shall be free to join the services of the AIIMS, Patna. However, the court made it clear that this order will be subject to the condition that the petitioner will submit his objections, if any, to the demand that the BHU makes on or before June 25, 2024.
The petitioner – Nitin Kumar is working as nursing officer in Sir Sunderlal Hospital, BHU. He was selected for AIMS, Patna and was asked to join it by June 15, 2024. Thereafter he moved an application before the BHU authorities to relieve him from service so that he may join his new posting at AIMS, Patna. When no order to relieve was passed, he filed the present writ petition before the high court.
Subsequently, acting on an order passed by the high court, the counsel for BHU,
Hem Pratap Singh produced an order dated June 3, 2024 passed by section officer
in the Office of the Registrar
of BHU, which informed that resignation of petitioner from the said post has been accepted from the date of relieving subject to realization of University dues outstanding, if any, against him.
The grievance of the petitioner was that the BHU authorities are not relieving him, despite the order dated June 3, 2024 passed in purported compliance of the court order dated May 30, 2024.
Justice JJ Munir took a serious note of it and termed the BHU as wrong doer, observing, “It appears that the respondent-BHU is bent upon flouting by resort to subterfuge and sharp tactics. On one hand, to make a show of compliance, they have passed the order dated June 3, 2024, saying that the petitioner’s resignation from the post of a Nursing Officer in Sir Sunderlal Hospital, BHU has been accepted from the
date of relieving, but have added a condition to it that it would be “subject
to realization of University dues outstanding, if any, against you”.
Now, during all the earlier hearings, this point was never made that the
petitioner had some outstandings of the University to pay.
During the counsel for BHU placed before this court a copy of a office memo dated June 5, 2024 signed by the Deputy Registrar and CAO, Sir Sunderlal Hospital, BHU, which shows the total oustandings to be paid by the petitioner is a sum of Rs. 5,51,434.
The petitioner said, he has to join his new employment at AIMS by June 15, 2024 and any further delay would make the petitioner lose his job.
The court took a serious note of it, saying that the last minute surprise that the respondent-University have sprung for the petitioner, serving him with a outstanding of Rs 5,51,434 may well hinder the petitioner in being relieved from employment of the BHU and joining at
Patna. By the time he is able to arrange the requisite funds to pay off
ouststandings or to show that these outstandings are, in fact not due, the
petitioner would forfeit his opportunity to join the services of the AIIMS,
Patna.
“To this court, it appears that this is precisely what the respondent-BHU
want and that is why they have come up with this claim at this juncture. This
Court does not appreciate this conduct of the respondent-BHU at all, for,
during the earlier hearings, this stand was never taken. Earlier, the BHU
was not prepared to accepted the petitioner’s resignation and they have
accepted it pursuant to our orders dated May 30, 2024, but in a clever
manoeuvre attempted to defeat it by springing up this demand, which a
man of modest means may not be able to meet all of a sudden”, the court added in its order dated June 6.
