Dimapur, Nov. 19 (EMN): Just two days after suspending its sit-in dharna following a meeting with the Health minister over their demand for service regularisation, the Department Recruited Aggrieved Nurses (DRAN) 2021 has reiterated that the advertisement clearly mentioned "regular basis" appointment.
This contradicts Health department’s recent clarification that it had recruited the nurses “with clear direction that this appointment will be temporary and regular recruitment will be conducted through special NPSC recruitment drive”.
“NPSC recruitment is normal recruitment as usual, but COVID pandemic recruitment is an extra-ordinary circumstances recruitment in a ‘Do or Die emergency basis’, and outside the purview of NPSC recruitment, conditioning DRAN members to resign from jobs serving as long as 17 years in National Health Mission (NHM) and other Services, and now applying ‘Use and discard’ policy against DRAN inhumanely,” read aggrieved nurses’ statement issued in Saturday.
Citing the Unemployed Trained Nurses Association (UTNA) case, which was dismissed by the High Court, they argued that “changing the condition of appointment from ‘regular basis’ to ‘temporary appointment’ to ‘temporary engagement’, and now giving extension of 1 year as contract appointees is illegal”.
“DRAN 2021 members are not a part to NPSC advertisement giving 25% and 10% weightage to COVID -19 Duty to recruit DRAN members as appeasement (sic),” it added.
The aggrieved nurses went on to say that the government can’t term their genuine rights as illegal and that “Section 3(1) of Nagaland Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1978 cannot be imposed in violation of the Fundamental Rights of a citizen under the Constitution”.