Jaipur : TheJaipur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court while hearing a writ petition against the Rajasthan Government notification which discriminated between “Allopathic”and“Ayurvedic”doctors bysetting separate retirement ages concluded that the notification was unconstitutional.The petition filed against the notification by which the benefit of raising the retirement age was only extended to doctors of medical and health services and not to doctors of Ayurveda and Bhartiya Chikitsa Vibhag of the Government of Rajasthan was heard by the bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Vinod Kumar Bharwani.
The Ayurvedic, Chikitsa Vibhag, Unani, Homeopathy, and Naturopathic doctors were not included in the mandate of the challenged notification, which raised the retirement age for medical and health services professionals from 60 to 62 years old for only Allopathic doctors .Aggrieved by the notification and the denial of the benefits therefrom, the petitioners went before the court asking for the issuance of an appropriate writ, order, or directive to the respondents ordering them to extend uniform benefits to the petitioners with all consequential benefits, including the refixation of pension along with full payment of arrears and interest amounts for premature retirement.
The court concluded that different superannuation ages to Allopathic Doctors in comparison to Ayurvedic Doctors is discriminatory was violation of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution and was unconstitutional.