Lucknow, Nov. 7 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has issued a notice and sought responses from the union and state governments on a PIL seeking recognition of the 'Right to Protection from Quacks' as part of the fundamental right to life and health under Article 21 of the Constitution. A division bench of justices Rajan Roy and Manjive Shukla issued notices this week and also directed that the matter be connected with a pending PIL raising overlapping issues. The PIL, filed by Tulsa Devi Sewa Sansthan against the Union of India, State of Uttar Pradesh and other authorities, also seeks a systematic and effective roadmap to eliminate quackery, unauthorised medical practice and cross-disciplinary practise by practitioners lacking requisite qualifications. The court directed that the petition be connected with We the People v. State of U.P., PIL No. 8294 of 2016, and other connected matters, observing that some of the issues raised in the present petition were similar. "The petition seeks recognition of protection against quacks, unqualified medical practitioners and unlicensed clinical establishments as part of the Right to Health, protected as an aspect of the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution," said advocate Ishan Khanna, who is representing the petitioner in court. It also seeks effective implementation of the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, including proper constitution and functioning of the State Council of Clinical Establishments, Uttar Pradesh, under Section 8, and appointment of District Registering Authorities in every district under Section 10. The petition also highlights the need to update and integrate statutory registers of doctors and clinical establishments maintained under the Clinical Establishments Act, 2010, the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 and the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act, 2020. It seeks to make these registers publicly accessible and digitally available so that individuals can verify the credentials of doctors, clinics, and hospitals. It also proposes the adoption of technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to verify the genuineness of medical practitioners, citing the QR-code-based verification system implemented in Telangana, which enables prospective patients to verify a doctor's authenticity through their mobile phones. The petition also seeks effective handling of complaints relating to quackery and unqualified medical practice through the IGRS/Jansunwai grievance portal in accordance with prescribed norms. It further seeks uniform guidelines throughout Uttar Pradesh to ensure that government doctors do not indulge in private practice. The court has listed the case for next hearing on December 10....