Quarantine period should be considered as on duty, says MHC

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has observed that the quarantine period related to COVID-19 of postgraduate medical students should be considered as on duty and it should be offset from their two years of compulsory bond service.

Petitioner Pradeep Vasudevan moved the Madras High Court (MHC) seeking to direct the State to pre-relieve him from the bond service as he rendered service during the Covid-19.

According to the petitioner, during his degree course in KAP Viswanathan government medical college at Tiruchy, he executed a bond to render service to the State for a period of two years after the completion of the course. However, he was assigned to render COVID-19 pandemic duty during his course. Now he sought to reduce the two-year bond service by calculating the mandatory quarantine period.

The COVID duty rendered by the students should be taken note of as service during the bond period, wrote Justice Anita Sumanth while allowing the petition.

The period of quarantine is, in my considered view, nothing but an extension of COVID duty itself, observed the judge. The court also directed the State and KAP Viswanathan government medical college to return the postgraduate degree certificate of the petitioner.