Delhi Nursing Council Act: HC Issues Notice To State Govt On Plea Seeking Amendments

The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Government of NCT Delhi and others on a plea seeking direction to consider bringing suitable amendments to the Delhi Nursing Council Act.

Petitioner Indian Professional Nurses Association Petitioner sought direction to declare Section 3(1)(h) of the Delhi Nursing Council Act of 1997 unconstitutional.

Therefore, the plea seeks amendments in the DNC Act whereby all the Nurses registered with the Delhi Nursing Council, can participate in the process where members are elected to the Delhi Nursing Council.

The bench of Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad sought responses from the Delhi Government, Delhi Nursing Council, and the Trained Nurses Association of India.

Through Advocate Robin Raju, the Petitioner organization challenges Section 3(1)(h) of the Delhi Nursing Council Act, 1997 grants special privilege to the members of the Trained Nurses Association of India to elect a member from its Delhi branch to a member of the Delhi Nursing Council.

However, the plea stated that the Trained Nurses Association of India with the special status to have one of its representatives in the council clearly discriminatory and violates Article 14 of the constitution.

The plea stated that, “Section 3(1)(h) violates Article 14 and it fails when tested on the touchstone of equality. It is also hard to fathom why special status is being given solely to the Trained Nurses Association of India when a host of other similarly placed organizations are working for the welfare of nurses and is registered in Delhi as well. The aforestated provision is thus manifestly arbitrary and resultantly violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.”

Moreover, Section 3(1)(h) of the DNC Act, disregards the fact that the Trained Nurses Association of India is not a statutory body for it to be given a special status.

Furthermore, it is restated that only a fragment of nurses who are members of the Trained Nurses Association of India gets the right to participate in the process of election of the Council.

The plea read that, “The large section of Nurses registered with Delhi Nursing Council who have affiliation with a body other than Trained Nurses Association of India are being deprived of the right to vote in DNC elections, which in effect means that their fundamental right as enshrined under Article 19(1)(a) is also being violated.
It is clearly arbitrary to deny the nurses the right to partake in the election process of a body which is constituted for their own welfare.”