New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) A nurse Friday moved the Delhi High Court after her employer asked for Rs.50,000 for accepting her resignation and releasing her original certificates.

Justice S. Muralidhar issued notice to Delhi government's ministry of health and family welfare and the nurse's employer Max Super Specialty Hospital, seeking their response by Dec 5.

Petitioner Sneha Susan Ninan, 27, a Keralite, was suffering from severe backache. Doctors advised her complete bed rest, said Ninan's counsel Jose Abraham.

?Ninan approached her employer to tender her resignation letter to go back to her home town for further treatment. But the hospital asked for Rs.50,000 for accepting her resignation and releasing her original certificates. The petitioner was not in a position to pay this money to the respondent hospital,? Abraham said.

It is a usual practice of private hospitals in Delhi, including Max, to keep the original certificates and compel nurses to work for years, "which is illegal and against the principles of the Constitution of India,? the petition said.

?The ministry concerned cannot run away from their responsibility to ensure the welfare of the majority of the nurses who are working in various hospitals,? said Abraham.

Ninan had joined the hospital March 5 and her request was refused July 22.

The court had, in a similar petition in July, asked the Delhi government to consider framing guidelines for all private hospitals, restraining them from retaining the original certificates of the nurses.