A civil judge has summoned Punjab health department’s medical officers posted at Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs) in Patiala to the National Lok Adalat for having failed to clear the clinics’ internet bills on March 9.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the internet service provider, had moved the National Lok Adalat to recover the pending payments, following which summons were issued by the court of civil judge (jr division) Arun Gupta.
“You are hereby directed to appear in the Lok Adalat to be held on 09.03.2024 at 10 A.M. Come present for amicable settlement of the outstanding amount of Rs. 1841/- in the above-mentioned court,” reads one of the summons issued to the medical officers.
BSNL officials told HT approaching the Lok Adalat to get the payments if a customer fails to clear bills despite repeated reminders was standard procedure.
“After deducting the security deposit, BSNL moves to Lok Adalat to get the outstanding payments from the customers. Moving Lok Adalat is, however, the last resort of the BSNL to get the payments,” a senior official at the Patiala BSNL office said.
Meanwhile, medical officers told HT that the authorities concerned, the health department in case, were at fault.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, medical officers told HT that the authorities concerned, the health department in case, were at fault.
{{/usCountry}}“It is a huge embarrassment for the doctors. The government is spending crores on various health schemes, but cannot pay the outstanding internet bills. We have to appear before the court for the administrative failures,” one of the medical officers who received the summons said.
Surprisingly, internet connections of many clinics have been disconnected over pending payments and staff is being forced to use mobile internet hotspots to register patients on the online portal.
Patiala civil surgeon Dr Raminder Kaur said, “Only a few clinics in the district had not paid internet bills. I have already issued directions to the officials concerned to pay the pending bills.”