Chandigarh, Sept. 13 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has restrained the Haryana government from taking coercive action against government doctors and health department employees who have refused to comply with the geofencing-based attendance system. Hearing a petition filed by Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) Association, an umbrella organisation of government doctors in the state and association of health department employees challenging the government's move to implement geofencing-based attendance system for doctors and health employees, Justice Sandeep Moudgil of the high court on September 11 ordered that no coercive steps shall be taken against the petitioners till the next date of hearing. The case will now come up on January 15, 2026. This HCMS association has sought quashing of a May 30, 2025 letter by which the state government had directed Haryana Health and Family Welfare department employees to download a mobile application - Geofencing App - to mark their attendance along with the existing biometric attendance. The HCMS association in its petition said the health employees were being forced to buy smart phones and download the mobile app to mark their attendance. It also said that the state government should be prohibited from rejecting the benefits of casual leave, child care leave etc. on the pretext of non-marking the attendance through Geofencing App by the employees. The state government's move to implement a geofencing-based attendance management system for health employees including doctors had been disapproved by the employees. The geo-fenced attendance system worked through a mobile application designed to capture the presence of health care professionals at their places of posting. A May 30 communication by additional chief secretary, health to director general of health services (DGHS), mission director, National Health Mission (NHM) and chief cxecutive of Ayushman Bharat Haryana Health Protection Authority said that disbursal of salary of health officials shall be strictly based on data of geo-fenced based attendance management system. In a representation to the DGHS, the HCMS association, has said the geofencing-based attendance management system mandated the installation of a mobile application on personal devices to track doctor's location....