The Bombay High Court directed the State to ensure spending sanctioned budget after the unspent healthcare budget was brought to the notice of the Court.
The entire budget sanctioned for procurement of drugs and medical equipment has not been spent, though learned Advocate General has stated that after constitution of the Procurement Authority under the Maharashtra Medical Goods Procurement Authority Act, 2023 (“Procurement Act of 2023”), the process of procurement of drugs and medical equipment has gained pace.
So far as the Department of Medical Education and Research is concerned, against the total Group “C” posts which are 21686 in number, 8721 posts are vacant. Similarly, in respect of the posts in the Public Health Department, as against total number of sanctioned posts of 57714, the posts which are vacant are 20402. Thus, roughly calculated, at least, 1/3rd Group “C” posts are vacant in the hospitals being run by both these departments.
The Group “C” posts include the posts of nursing staff as also various technical staff involved in diagnostics etc. Any vacancy against these posts is bound to hamper the health care facilities and services in the hospitals being run by the State. Thus, it is needless to say that there is an urgent need to fill up all such vacancies, not only Group “C”, but other vacancies also.
The Advocate General has submitted that various steps have been taken by the State Government to ensure that vacancies in the hospitals in the State are filled in at the earliest. It has been stated by the learned Advocate General that he is personally supervising the steps being taken by the State Government ensuring filling up of the vacancies. He has further assured the Court that so far as the posts which lie within the purview of Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) are concerned, the Commission has also been taking appropriate steps for filling up all these vacancies.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Nitin Madhukar Jamdar and Justice Arif S Doctor observed that “We, thus, expect that adequate and appropriate steps shall be taken to spend the budgetary allocation in its entirety otherwise after sanctioning the amount, if it is not used, the same gets lapsed at the cost of the health care system.”
“We direct that an affidavit shall be filed by the MPSC as well giving timeline for completion of the process of recruitment against posts which fall within its purview. We direct the Secretary and the Chairman of the MPSC to consider as to how the timeline, as indicated by the Advocate General, for completion of process of recruitment can be shortened further” the Court concluded.
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