The Delhi High Court ordered the North Delhi Municipal Corporation to file a certificate of use for Rs 8 crores to be issued from March 2020 for the payment of stipend/emoluments to resident doctors, in a plea filed regarding the issue of payment of salaries to resident doctors in Delhi.
A Delhi HC Divisional Bench comprising Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan appreciated the GNCTD's decision to release further a quantity of eight crores regardless of the North DMC 's proper proposal in a proper format.
In this case, the Court took cognizance in dealing with the question of unpaid salary/stipend payments to the resident doctors in Delhi. Counsel appearing for the North DMC reported that "they paid the wages to daily physicians by April 2020 and to resident physicians by May 2020."
The lawyer further added that they had already approached the government of Delhi to release additional sums, and the requisite paperwork had already been completed. Proposals have already been placed before the GNCTD and hence GNCTD could be aimed at releasing at least the sum for the doctors' salaries.
While, the counsel appearing for the Delhi Government submitted that "North DMC is regularly being paid the legally payable sum, and in the past, they have been issued approximately a sum of about 136 crores, for which North DMC has not received a certificate of use."
'As far as the 'Grant-in-Aid' sum to be provided by the GNCTD Health Department is concerned, the sum under the head 'salary' shall be published as soon as possible upon receipt by the North DMC of the request, and the same amount may be used for payment of wages and payment of stipends/emoluments for regular physicians as well as for all resident physicians of the Governorate.
When the Court ordered North DMC to pay the stipend/emoluments from the sum provided by the Department of Health and Family Welfare as a 'Grant-in-Aid salary,' GNCTD to the resident physicians of the following government hospitals owned, managed and operated by North DMC:-
(ii) Hospital de Kasturba.
(iii) Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis Hospital Rajendra Babu Institute;
(iv) Maharishi Valmiki in hospital for infections.
(V) Ms. Girdhar Lal Maternity.
(vi) The Ram Hospital in Balak.
However, the Court ordered the Delhi Government to release the said amount of Rs. 8 Crore to North DMC within 15 days from today and shall only be used by North DMC for the payment of stipend/emoluments to the aforementioned hospitals' resident doctors.