The Allahabad High Court, on December 22, asked the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure that vacancies for senior teaching posts at state-run medical colleges are expeditiously filled.

The bench of Justice Alok Mathur passed the order on a plea by Dr Yasmeen Usmania — a professor in the department of Radio-Diagnosis at the Saharanpur medical college — who was asked by the state government to divide her week teaching at the Meerut Medical College for four days and the Saharanpur college for two days.

Usmani told the court that the government's order that mandated her to divide her duties between two colleges, nearly 150 km apart, put her in a piquant situation. She requested the court to intervene and allow her to work from her hometown in Meerut.

The court said, "There is an acute shortage of senior staff including for the posts of professor in the Radio-Diagnosis Department which has led to the passing of the aforesaid order.” 

It added that the situation has existed since 2018 and for the last two years "not much efforts have been made to make fresh appointments" in the concerned department. The bench asked the order to be sent to the principal secretary (medical education) of the state government. 

Disposing of the petition, the court asked the petitioner to make a fresh representation before the principal secretary within two weeks. It also asked the government to apprise the court of its decision within four weeks.