15 December,2010 08:06 AM IST | | Astha Saxena
16 MPs have raised objections to ad hoc appointments made by the former director of the institution
The doctor may have left the building, but the side-effects are still being felt. Round 164 ad hoc appointments made by former director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Dr P Venugopal in his tenure are once again raising eyebrows.
I'm back: Dr P Venugopal taking charge after Supreme Court verdict
ruled out the law that would have enabled premature retirement of the
noted cardiologist as director of the prestigious institute. File pic
Sixteen members of parliament have written a complaint to Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad; one has also approached Law Minister M Veerappa Moily regarding the issue.
The institute is on the verge of recruiting those 164 assistant professors as associate professors. As per some AIIMS doctors, all the appointments are illegal.
"All of them have reached to this level by violating laws. The institute itself is violating the rules by recruiting these doctors," said a senior doctor on the condition of anonymity.
The appointments were made in 2003 when Venugopal was the dean of the institute. Then Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss and Venugopal were locked in battle since the anti-reservation agitation in 2006 at the Institute, which reportedly had the director's backing.
A five-member committee that was headed by Member of Parliament Karan Singh Yadav came to the conclusion that reservation policy for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was also not properly implemented by the institute.
The letter to the health minister, a copy of which is with MiD DAY, clearly mentions the flaws in the administration of the institute while making the appointments. It also mentions how the institute has been violating the rules for these appointees.
"The AIIMS administration appointed about 150 Assistant professors on ad hoc basis between 1995 and 2003 without following rules and regulations.
These appointments were totally arbitrary. No standard selection criterion was followed, merit was ignored and the constitutional provisions of reservation for Scheduled caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates were completely bypassed," the letter said. Director of the institute, Dr RC Deka, was not available for comments.
| Somthing AMISS |
| The Centre has admitted in the Supreme Court that rules were "blatantly breached" by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the recruitment of 164 assistant professors in 2003 of whom about 84 have been promoted to associate professors. |
