The absence of Justice Benedict Kanyip of the National Industrial Court on Wednesday stalled further hearing in the case filed by Lagos doctors against the state government.
The doctors, under the aegis of Medical Guild, had on April 24 embarked on strike to press home the implementation of the agreement they reached with the state government in April 2011.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the government announced the sacking of the 788 doctors on May 7 for what it called absence from duty and failure to reply to the queries given to them.
However, following the intervention of a former governor, Chief Bola Tinubu, the doctors were recalled on June 7.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Wednesday, the court’s registrar, Mrs Kemi Olabode, informed both parties that the court could not sit because the judge had travelled to Abuja for an official assignment.
“He asked me to apologise to both counsel and also asked them to fix another date that would be convenient to them and the court,’’ she said.
Counsel to the government, Mrs Kemi Olugbode and the guild’s counsel, Mr Ode Abah, agreed on July 25 as the date for the hearing of the case.
The Lagos State Government had filed a motion for a stay of proceedings in the case pending the determination of the appeal it filed against the ruling of the court.
The court ruled on May 24 that it had the jurisdiction to entertain the case as it was purely a labour dispute.
?Two doctors — Olumuyiwa Odusote and Idris Durojaiye — had filed the suit on behalf of the guild challenging the government’s alleged breach of the agreement and the issuance of queries to guild members for embarking on a warning strike.
Joined in the suit are the Commissioner for Health, the Lagos State Health Service Commission and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Management Board.
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