Lawyer writes to CJI SA Bobde against Delhi doctor's "illegal termination" from service for distributing PPE kits to colleagues

A lawyer has written to Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, protesting the "illegal termination" of a doctor from a medical college for allegedly distributing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits to his colleagues..Advocate Pawan Prakash Pathak reveals to the CJI that a resident doctor at Delhi's Hindurao Medical College, Dr. Piyush Pushkar Singh, was sent a termination letter on April 15. .This letter was sent by the Medical Superintendent, who was acting under the direction of the Commissioner, North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North DMC), on allegations of the doctor was distributing PPE kits among his fellow resident doctors and interns at the college. The termination letter states that the doctor was being fired "with immediate effect for bringing disrepute to the Institution”, it is pointed out..This "blatant and arbitrary" termination letter goes against the principles of natural justice, the letter to the CJI says. Pathak highlights that the same was issued on the orders of the North DMC Commissioner without issuing a show cause notice. In the absence of this procedure, the termination is wrongful, the letter argues..The letter asks why a doctor who, in public interest and in the interest of his colleagues, distributed PPE kits amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, should be penalised..The authority of the Medical Superintendent and the Commissioner of North DMC has also come under question in this letter. It is pointed out that the PPE kits were being distributed in the personal capacity of the doctor after he was approached by an NGO for this purpose. This termination, the letter says, has become a matter of national agenda, with doctors across the country calling for the revocation of this termination.."That the instant termination has now become a national agenda, as the entire fraternity of Doctors has issued letter to the concerned authority to revoke the termination with immediate effect & adopt due procedure of law available under the law of the land; as the instant termination is not the termination simplicitor but a punitive termination because the word employed therein has a punitive flavour in cause & consequence."Letter to CJI Bobde.Such actions by authorities are discouraging doctors to "give their best during the current pandemic" at a time when the presence of these "frontline warriors" is of utmost importance, the letter states. Therefore, CJI Bobde has been requested to take cognizance of the instance and direct for revocation of the termination letter.