A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Devinder Gupta and Justice K S Gupta gave the government and the federation of the faculty members time till 2 pm tomorrow to hold discussions and end the strike at any cost.

Counsel for faculty members Rekha Palli submitted that in principal an agreement has been reached with the government during the meetings with the group of ministers, but any formal announcement could be made only after the consent of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Union Health Minister Dalit Ezhimalai was taken.

The faculty members have been meeting the group of ministers, formed for the purpose to consider the demands, for the last few days andeven this morning.

The faculty members are likely to hold the meeting with the prime minister and the health minister today or early tomorrow, she submitted.

The court rejected the plea of the faculty members for two-three days time to complete discussions and reach to an agreement. The judges said, ``You end the strike first. We want that the strike should end and are not inclined to give any further time.''

Counsel for government Rakesh Tikku submitted that the Bakshi Committee was only recommendatory in nature and the government was not bound by its recommendations. Moreover, the finance ministry had accepted it and the ministry of health had issued certain instructions.

He said though the health ministry had rejected the recommendation for an increase in the pay scale of the faculty members, it had compensated them with other allowances. The net result of the hike in allowances was that the salary of the faculty members was much higher that the doctors of the Central Government Health Services(CGHS), he said.

The strike to press the demand for implementation of the Bakshi Committee recommendation on pay scale entered the 15th day today.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Supreme Court advocate Arun Kaushal seeking imposition of a blanket ban on all strikes by doctors and health officials all over the country, including AIIMS.