Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday allowed three writ petitions filed by doctors who challenged their posting as ‘Senior Residents’ under a state-imposed bond obligation.
The Court rejected the state government’s preliminary objection that the petitioners should have approached the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal instead of the High Court.
The bench of Justice Biswajit Basu held that the petitioners, who had completed MD/MS courses from R.G. Kar Medical College as non-sponsored candidates, were “deployed” to serve the state as per indemnity bonds but had not been “appointed” to any civil post.
The petitioners—Aniket Mahata, Debashis Halder and Asfakulla Naiya—had executed bonds requiring them to serve the state for three years or pay Rs 10 lakh per defaulting year. They challenged the May 2025 notifications that assigned them postings allegedly in violation of counselling preferences and merit order.
The state argued that the doctors held civil posts and their service-related grievances should be adjudicated by the Tribunal. The court, however, relied on a 2018 Division Bench ruling which had held that such bond-based engagements did not amount to recruitment in civil posts.
Justice Basu observed that the term “deploy” was deliberately used instead of “appoint” to indicate the absence of formal recruitment. He held that there was no advertisement, selection process, or appointment order that would establish a govt service relationship.