Morung Express News
Dimapur | December 13
The Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench has dismissed the appeals challenging a Single Judge judgment that had rejected two writ petitions against the Nagaland government’s decision to regularise 98 in-service medical officers who served during the COVID-19 pandemic through a Special Recruitment Drive (SRD).
The Division Bench of the Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury has reserved the judgement on December 3.
Delivering its verdict on December 11, the Division Bench stated it find “no infirmity” in the reasoning of the Single Judge and were accordingly dismissed the appeal.
The State is permitted to proceed with the regulation under the special recruitment drive if it has not already been completed,” the Division Bench added, effectively removing a major legal hurdle to the confirmation of services of the shortlisted doctors, unless the decision is challenged before the Supreme Court.
Case background
The appeals were filed against the common judgment delivered on August 1 by Justice Yarenjungla Longkumer, who had dismissed two separate writ petitions questioning the State Cabinet’s 2024 decision to regularise 98 doctors who had served during the pandemic.
It held that neither group of petitioners could be considered “aggrieved persons” under the law and that the SRD was a reasonable, one-time policy decision taken under extraordinary circumstances.
The in-service medical officers were appointed during the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020 when the Nagaland government faced a severe shortage of doctors and State Cabinet approved the creation of new posts, including 44 medical officers, and combined them with existing vacancies to advertise 168 posts on August 4, 2020.
These appointments were made on a strictly temporary basis for one year or until regular recruitment by the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) and had carried no promise of regularisation.
Over time, as the pandemic continued, the Cabinet decided to recognise and retain those who had risked their lives in COVID duty. In May 2022, it resolved to hold a SRD giving weightage for COVID service and relaxing the upper age limit to 45.
When the NPSC declined to conduct the SRD, the Cabinet, in August 2024, approved a departmental screening process to regularise 98 in-service doctors, who were either appointed during COVID-19 or were contractual officers but were part of the pandemic response.
The decision was challenged by two sets of petitioners. The first were MBBS graduates, eligible for direct recruitment under the Nagaland Health Service Rules 2006, who argued that the Cabinet’s 2024 decision violated the statutory rules, which require all junior grade medical officer posts to be filled through 100% direct recruitment via the NPSC. They had not served during the pandemic.
The second sets of petitioners were from doctors who had been appointed during COVID-19 but later left government service to pursue postgraduate studies. They contended that having served over 100 days during the pandemic, they too should have been included in the SRD list.
In the ruling, Justice Longkumer observed that the SRD was not a regular recruitment exercise open to all MBBS graduates, but a targeted, one-time policy aimed at a specific group of doctors who had served during the pandemic and were still on duty.
The Court held that the first set of petitioners, not having been part of this group, lacked locus standi and could not allege discrimination, as they were not “similarly situated” to the beneficiaries of the policy.
As for the second set of petitioners, the Court found that they were no longer in service and thus could not seek regularisation. The SRD’s purpose was to confirm the services of those still working in the health department, not to extend benefits to those who had resigned or left for studies.
The Court also noted that the earlier Cabinet decisions of 2020 and 2022 formed the policy’s foundation, and since these had not been challenged, the 2024 decision could not be attacked in isolation.
