Nagpur Hundreds of undergraduate and postgraduate students of Government Veterinary colleges in the state heaved a sigh of relief on Wednesday when the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) Nagpur bench ordered a ‘status quo’ on the promotions of Assistant Livestock Development Officers (ALDOs).These students were protesting the decision of the Animal Husbandry Department to promote more than 120 ALDOs, who are Group C government servants, to the post of Livestock Development Officers (LDOs) which is Grade I post. According to them, the ALDOs are just diploma holders and they could not perform the duties of LDOs which include minor as well as major surgeries.Advocate Ashutosh Dharmadhikari, who presented the students’ side, said that the bench was convinced that there is prima facie a violation of Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984.“It’s a big decision for students as well as for livestock owners across the state. MAT has directed the state government to maintain status quo on the issue till further decision. The government has been asked to file reply within two weeks,” said Dharmadhikari.On Wednesday, as soon as they received the copy of the MAT order, they celebrated by bursting crackers on premises of Government Veterinary College in Nagpur. Students also celebrated Holi with MAFSU vice-chancellor Dr Ashish Paturkar in his chamber.“It’s a great victory for us. The tribunal has finally accepted that the government has violated the laws while issuing these promotion orders. Moreover, they were issued on March 8, but the official date on the paper is March 11. As model code of conduct for the general elections were imposed by this date, these orders stand illegal,” said Dr Tejas Wankhade, president of Maharashtra Veterinary Students Association (action committee).The state government, on March 8, had promoted 125 livestock supervisors working at vet polyclinics at various tehsil places, mini polyclinics, bull rearing centres, and central hatcheries across the state. Veterinary students from government colleges in Nagpur, Mumbai, Parbhani, Shirwal, Udgir and Akola immediately started protesting against this decision.On the first two days, they had closed government clinics and colleges. From last week, they had resorted to innovative ways of protests like polishing shoes, distributing newspapers and selling tea around their clinics and colleges as a sign of being unemployed after promotion of diploma holders.The students are now demanding to set aside the order issued on March 8. Their other demands include implementation of IVC Act, 1984, in toto, and regular appointments of vet graduates on vacant posts of LDOs.

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