Nainital: The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the state government to pay Ayurvedic medical practitioners in the state on par with their Allopathic counterparts.

Dr Sanjay Singh Chauhan along with 101 others had filed a petition in the court claiming that they are doctors of Ayurvedic Yoga Unani Sidha Homeopathy (AYUSH) and were working in the state under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

Advocate B N Maulekhie, counsel for the Ayurvedic doctors, informed the court that while the doctors working for AYUSH received Rs 28,000 per month, their Allopathic counterparts got Rs 48,000 per month for the same amount of work.

He claimed that the only difference in the work between the two was a difference of branch in the same field.

After hearing the petition, the division bench of justices Rajiv Sharma and Alok Singh directed the government to pay equal salaries to doctors working for AYUSH and their Allopathic counterparts.