End ‘disparity’ in giving additional weightage to Cov workers: HC to govt

Cuttack: The Orissa high court has directed the state govt to stop “disparity” in providing additional weightage for work during the Covid-19 pandemic in recruitment of healthcare professionals and asked it to consider those who worked in private hospitals as well.
The single-judge bench of Justice A K Mohapatra on Friday said restricting the benefit under Rule 3 of ‘Odisha grant of weightage in marks in the Recruitment for Short-Term Covid-19 Healthcare workers Rules, 2022’ to only those healthcare workers who rendered their services in govt hospitals during the pandemic is unconstitutional.
Accordingly, he also directed the state govt to extend the benefit in a manner which would include all categories of persons who have rendered their services for more than three months as provided in the Rules.
“This court finds absolutely no valid ground and justification for creation of such a sub-class amongst the short-term Covid-19 healthcare workers. Moreover, it is not that the healthcare workers employed in private hospitals during Covid-19 were immune to such pandemic and such workers did not die due to Covid-19 during such pandemic,” he observed. TNN