Supreme Court Judgment Holding That Ayurved Doctors Can't Claim Equal Pay As Allopathy Doctors Sought To Be Recalled

Several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court seeking recall/review of its judgment which held that Ayurved doctors are not entitled to equal pay as Allopathy doctors.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta on Monday noted that the author of the judgment, Justice V Ramasubramanian, has retired and that the matter has to be listed before a bench which has Justice Pankaj Mithal, the other member of the bench which delivered judgment. Therefore, the matter was directed to be placed before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders regarding listing.

The bench was hearing a writ petition under Art. 32 filed by medical officers(Ayurveda) along with miscellaneous applications and review petitions by affected persons and the National Commission for Indian System for Medicine for modification of the 2-judge bench judgment.

Attorney General for India R Venkataramani submitted that some of the observations made in the judgment may have implications for the Commission.

The bench observed that “ it appears to us prima facie that fate of writ petition would depend on the outcome of Miscellaneous application moved by others for modification/recall of judgment.

The said judgment was passed by Justice V Ramasubramanian(retired) and Pankaj Mittal.

It thus appears to us that it’ll be more appropriate for writ petitions/MA/Review to be listed before a bench in which Justice Pnankaj Mittal is a member. Let these matters be placed before CJI for appropriate order.”

Allopathy Doctors And Ayurved Doctors Do Not Perform Equal Work And Are Not Entitled To Equal Pay: Supreme Court

On April 26, a Bench comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice Pankaj Mithal had set aside the Gujarat High Court order which held that practitioners possessing a degree of Bachelor of Ayurved in Medicine and Surgery are to be treated at par with doctors holding MBBS degrees and are entitled to the benefits of the recommendation of the Tikku Pay Commission.

"By the very nature of the science that they practice and with the advancement of science and modern medical technology, the emergency duty that allopathy doctors are capable of performing and the trauma care that they are capable of providing cannot be performed by Ayurveda doctors", the Supreme Court observed while setting aside the High Court judgment.

The Court held that "Therefore, even while recognizing the importance of Ayurveda doctors and the need to promote alternative/indigenous systems of medicine, we cannot be oblivious of the fact that both categories of doctors are certainly not performing equal work to be entitled to equal pay.”

Case title: Medical Officers Association (Ayurveda) State Of Gujarat v. Union Of India

Citation: W.P.(C) No. 723/2023 and connected matters

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