Published On: Wed, Feb 26th, 2025

HC asks govt to amend VRS provisions in OCS Rules | Bhubaneswar News



Cuttack: Orissa high court has directed the state govt to amend the provisions on voluntary retirement in the Odisha Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1992, while dismissing a petition filed by a professor regarding her application for VRS.
Snigdha Prava Mishra, a physiology professor, challenged the Sept 17, 2024 order issued by the commissioner-cum-secretary of the health and family welfare department, rejecting her application for VRS on the grounds of “larger public interest”, citing a critical shortage of faculty in govt medical colleges.
Progressive vision loss and cardiac issues make it impossible for me to continue working effectively. Denial of VRS on the pretext of faculty shortage is unjustified when compared to my individual right to health and well-being, Mishra contended.
In the order uploaded Tuesday, Justice S K Panigrahi said across states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and others, govts have codified the power to reject VRS when the withdrawal of service threatens the well-being of the public.
“Yet in Odisha, the OCS (Pension) Rules, 1992 remain silent where they ought to speak. They lack the safeguard that other states have rightly recognised, that a profession whose absence imperils life itself cannot be surrendered at will. The law, in its present form, leaves an opening, a path unguarded, through which a public servant, however essential his role, may exit without restraint,” Justice Panigrahi observed.
“For the reasons set forth, this court finds no merit in the writ petition. The scarcity of doctors is not a mere inconvenience but a matter of grave public concern. To permit the petitioner’s retirement would set a precedent that risks unravelling the very fabric of the healthcare system,” Justice Panigrahi said.
“Moreover, the concerned department shall amend the provisions on voluntary retirement in the OCS (Pension) Rules, 1992, aligning them with the evolving framework in other states. This reform shall be undertaken within three months from the date of this judgment,” Justice Panigrahi specified in his Feb 14 order.
According to case records, Mishra, a professor at MKCG Hospital, Berhampur, was transferred to SRM Medical College and Hospital, Bhawanipatna by the department. But she sought cancellation of the order, requesting instead to be posted as a professor of physiology at Shri Jagannath MCH, Puri. After her request was rejected, she applied for leave on health grounds. A recall notice followed, directing her to join her new posting without delay. But she submitted an application for VRS, citing illness. However, the VRS committee rejected her application on the ground that her retirement could not be permitted due to the acute shortage of doctors in govt hospitals.
However, Justice Panigrahi observed, “The heart of the dispute, therefore, lies in the petitioner’s refusal to comply with her transfer and her subsequent attempt to retire voluntarily, which was denied in light of the exigencies of public health and the pressing need for medical professionals in state service.”





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