Not Legally Acceptable: Bengal Govt on Mass Resignations by Doctors

Kolkata: The West Bengal government stated on Saturday that mass resignations are not legally valid for the state government. Senior doctors are facing a legal challenge as they attempt to express solidarity with junior doctors protesting the horrific rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

According to an IANS report, unless given individually, a resignation letter is not a legally acceptable one. There had been such mass resignations in a scattered manner from different places.  

The state government intends to make the legal stand in the matter clear," Alapan Bandopadhyay, the chief advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said at a press conference.

During the last few days, around 300 senior doctors, including members from the medico-academic community, from at least seven state-run medical colleges and hospitals have tendered mass resignations. In fact, these senior doctors too have made it clear these mass resignations are just initial token protests and if the state government desires, they will submit individual resignations at a later stage.

Also Read:RG Kar PG Medico Death: 40 SSKM Hospital Doctors resign in support of Junior Doctors

Meanwhile, a senior officer of the state government said that there is a specific procedure for all state government officials and staff including doctors to resign from service.

"Each and everyone needs to follow and go through that procedure and the resignation cannot be accepted overnight," he said, news agency IANS reported.

The event of the state government making its stand clear on the mass resignation comes on a day when the fast-unto-death agitation by the junior doctors has entered the eighth day. While eight junior doctors are fasting at a dais at Esplanade in central Kolkata, two are doing the same within the campus of North Bengal Medical College & Hospital (NBMCH) at Siliguri in Darjeeling district. 

Indian Medical Association's (IMA) national President R.V. Asokan, who came to West Bengal on Friday and met the doctors on a hunger strike, said that the protests by the junior doctors are not in self-interest but in the larger public interest. 

However, at the same time, he requested the fasting doctors to withdraw their agitation, saying "Life comes first".  

Also Read:50 Senior Doctors at RG Kar Medical College submit En-masse Resignation