New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the AIIMS Nurses' Union to ensure that its member nurses, who are on strike since morning, immediately rejoin work, and said that the nurses must place the interest of patients above and beyond their dispute with the administration.

Justice Yashwant Varma, dealing with the petition by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), observed that while the rights of the union to espouse the cause of its members stands duly recognised, it should must bear in mind the deleterious impact that the call to strike would have medical institution as well as patients awaiting emergency surgery and care.

Since the impugned action of the respondent union would cause grave prejudice and also seriously impede and impact the working of the petitioner institution, the respondent union is directed to ensure that its members and nursing officers would immediately rejoin work forthwith pending further orders, the court stated.

The court at this stage deems it appropriate to call upon the union to require its members to resume duties bearing in mind the essential nature of the duties they perform. The members of the union must at this stage and pending further consideration by this court of the grievances raised, place the interest of the patients above and beyond the disputes that stand raised, it added.

The judge noted that none appeared on behalf of the nurses' union and directed that the petition be listed for further consideration on April 27 at 10.30 am.

The AIIMS Nurses' Union had earlier announced an indefinite strike with effect from Tuesday morning demanding that the suspension of its President Harish Kajla be revoked.

Lawyer Satya Ranjan Swain, appearing for AIIMS, informed the court that the nurses' union refused to attend to duty following a notice issued on April 25 and the same resulted in the cancellation of various surgeries and has crippled the functioning of a centre of excellence.

He further submitted that action against the office-bearer was based on video clips of an incident which took place on April 22 and that the demands of the union are under active consideration and there was no justification to go on a strike.

Swain informed that AIIMS had to enlist its MBBS students to assist its medical personnel in procedures that they performed during the day and urged the court to pass an interim direction of stay.

In the petition, AIIMS has claimed that Kajla was suspended on April 25 after protests by a group of nurses in the main Operation Theatre on 22.04.2022 over staff shortage resulted in the cancellation of at least 50 planned surgeries .

The president of the union was seen in the video shouting at the duty officer and creating a chaotic situation and a show-cause notice has been issued to him, it further said.