HC declines to entertain PIL for granting risk allowance to paramedics in Army Medical Corps

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a PIL seeking directions to the Centre to grant risk allowances to the paramedics in the Army Medical corps as is given to their civilian counterparts, saying the plea ought to have been moved before the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a PIL seeking directions to the Centre to grant risk allowances to the paramedics in the Army Medical corps as is given to their civilian counterparts, saying the plea ought to have been moved before the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT). A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said the petitioner, who claims to be a Havildar in the Army Medical Corps, should have made a representation to the Centre or moved the AFT instead of coming to the high court. Taking note of the view expressed by the court, the petitioner -- Hari Kishan -- sought permission to withdraw his plea and it was dismissed as withdrawn by the bench. Later in the day, the petitioner appeared in another plea with regard to the dissolution of Muslim marriages, but in this matter his name was shown as Hari Mudgil in the petition. This led to the court declining to hear the matter till it verified his bona fides.

Though the man explained that the name Hari Mudgil was a clerical error in the second petition and that his official name was Hari Kishan, the bench refused to accept his oral explanations and asked him to file an affidavit disclosing his identity documents. In his withdrawn petition, the man had said that presently, the Hospital Patient Care Allowance is given to group C and D employees of civil hospitals, civilian employees of army hospitals and hospitals of Central Police Forces having bed strength of 30 and above.

Also, Patient Care Allowance is given to all above mentioned employees of healthcare facilities with less than 30 beds, it had said, adding that the reason for giving the allowance was that these employees come directly or indirectly in contact with infected patients, instruments, tissues, laboratory samples like blood, urine, stools, viscera etc and therefore chances of them getting infected are high. The petitioner had contended that "soldier paramedics posted in the Army Hospitals come in direct contact with patients and are always at risk of getting hospital-borne infection" and therefore, they should not be discriminated against in grant of these allowances.