Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh high court has issued Form-I notices to three IAS officers —Sudhansh Pant, secretary, ministry of health and family, Arti Ahuja, secretary, ministry of labour and employment, and V Hekali Zhimomi, special secretary and director general, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) directing them to appear before the court on Wednesday in a contempt of court case.
The notices were issued to the IAS officers after they failed to comply with the directions of the high court in a writ petition filed by president of AP State AIDS Control Employees’ Union, Venu Sudarthi. The petition sought revision of remuneration (pay scales) of the contract employees working with APSACS.
Even though notices were served to the officers earlier, they neither appeared in person nor through their counsel. Hence, the high court issued Form-1 notices to the three IAS officers.
Venu Sudarthi said over 23,000 contractual employees serving at the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) in facility level in divisions such as ICTC, CST, DSRC, BB, DAPCU, TI, found themselves entangled in a legal struggle in their fight for fair remuneration. Since 2009, these contractual employees have received 15 per cent top-to-bottom benefit revision in remuneration for all cadres. Despite revisions in 2014 based on experience, achieving uniformity across all cadres remains elusive. However, in January 2020, NACO extended benefits only to one cadre, namely ART doctors, he added.
In 2020, AP State AIDS Control Employees’ Union filed a writ petition, citing violation of Constitutional principles (Articles 14, 16, and 21). Another petition was filed in 2021.
Justice Nimmagadda Venkateswarlu of the AP high court issued an order on December 19, 2022, directing NACO to promptly revise remuneration for all contractual employees on par with the pay structure of Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) and Medical Officers (MOs) within two months.
Despite the court’s unequivocal directive, NACO was yet to respond, prompting the union to file a contempt of court petition. The case hearing was scheduled on January 5, 2024, but respondents did not file any memorandum of appearance nor attended the case.
