Delhi Nursing Council gets HC notice over PIL on nurses voting rights

The Bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh sought responses from all the respondents and slated the matter for December 13, 2021, for further hearing.

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The petitioner, the Indian Professional Nurses Association (IPNA) NGO, sought direction to DNC and Delhi government through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to publish the annual income and expenditure of the DNC on its website.

Advocate Robin Raju appearing for the petitioner stated that there is a dire need to bring suitable amendments in the Delhi Nursing Council Act, 1997, so that the existing arbitrary and non-democratic process of nominating members to the nursing council comes to an end.

The plea filed through Advocate Joel Joseph stated that about 90,000 nurses registered with Delhi Nursing Council have no right to elect the representatives of a body that has been constituted, inter-alia, to work for their welfare, reports ANI.

Robin pointed out that the Delhi Nursing Council has been formed for the welfare of the nurses registered with it and therefore, they should have right to say in its functioning.

He highlighted that by way of several RTIs it has come to fore that there is a lack of amenities for the nurses. "We are talking about the Covid warriors. Nurses form the backbone of the medical sector," he said.

He further highlighted that in all the organisations formed for welfare of the professionals, be it Doctors or Advocates, voting powers are given to the members in their respective organisations.

The plea stated,

"The Doctors registered in Delhi vote to elect members to Delhi Medical Council. Likewise, the Advocates and Chartered Accountants through voting elect their representatives in the Bar Council of Delhi and Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Hence, to deny the Nursing Officers the right to elect Delhi Nursing Council members is clearly arbitrary and against the principles of democracy, fairness and equality."

In this backdrop, the plea submits that the aforesaid practice adopted by the Council overlooks the fact that that the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947, which constitutes the Indian Nursing Council, by virtue of sec. 3, provides that the Indian Nursing Council shall composed of members who should be elected by the respective bodies, reports Live Law.

"Thus it is the understanding of the petitioner that the Central Act favours the system of election rather than nomination," the plea adds.

The plea further alleged that there is a lack of financial transparency in the functioning of the DNC.

The respondent has not even published on its website the audited summary of its income and expenditure, it said. "The denial of voting rights to nurses is nothing but sheer disregard of the fact that other professionals such as doctors, advocates and chartered accountant," the plea stated.

"Nurses are at the core of medical treatment and it is important to alleviate the genuine concerns faced by these angels and denial of the right to elect representatives to the body that has been constituted for their welfare is not fitting for a country like ours which takes pride in its democratic ideals and structure," plea further added.

The Delhi Nursing Council is a statutory body that was constituted by The Delhi Nursing Council Act, 1997 and the body is supervised by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of NCT of Delhi.

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