Overview

• Justice Basu confirmed the high court’s authority to hear the trio’s senior-residency challenges and dismissed the state’s plea to refer the dispute to the administrative tribunal.
• The bench ruled that indemnity bonds requiring three years of service or heavy penalties constitute deployments instead of civil appointments, citing a 2018 division bench ruling.
• Aniket Mahato, Ashfaqulla Naiya and Debashis Halder have argued that their May 2025 postings to Malda, Purulia and Uttar Dinajpur violated merit-based counselling preferences and were punitive.
• Ashfaqulla Naiya and Debashis Halder have joined their reassigned district hospitals, while Aniket Mahato has not reported to his posting in Purulia.
• The case traces back to protests led by the doctors at R G Kar Medical College after the August 2024 rape and murder of a junior colleague, part of a broader junior-doctor movement for accountability.