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Dismissal of AIIMS Director : High Court stays Govt. order |
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In another embarrassment for the UPA Government, and especially the Union Health Minister, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, Delhi High Court has stayed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) governing body’s recommendation to terminate Director P. Venugopal’s services. It also restrained the Union Government from acting on the recommendation till further orders. August 17 has been fixed for further hearing.
The order followed a petition by Dr. Venugopal, seeking a stay on the July 5 recommendation and its quashing. Before passing the order, Justice Anil Kumar asked counsel for Dr. Venugopal, Arun Jaitley, about the grounds on which his client sought a stay.
Jaitley submitted that forming of opinion by the governing body was arbitrary and without justifiable grounds. As such it was in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution as well as a Supreme Court verdict on termination of the services of an incumbent of a tenure post.
On a petition by the former AIIMS Director, L.P. Aggarwal, challenging his termination, the Court had ruled that “once a person is appointed to a tenure post, ... the question of prematurely retiring him does not arise,” Jaitley submitted. “The tenure post comes to an end on completion of the tenure unless curtailed on justifiable grounds.”
As the governing body failed to show to the Court any justifiable ground for its decision, the action was mala fide, he said. The action was also in violation of the AIIMS Act, which said that before taking a decision on the fate of the Director, the governing body would serve a three-month notice.
Jaitley alleged that Dr. Ramadoss was trying to destroy the institute’s autonomy .
Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam said there was deep resentment among the faculty members about Dr. Venugopal’s style of functioning.
The Government was in favour of giving him a graceful exit in view of the reputation he enjoyed but he refused to quit despite requests from the Health Secretary and other top bureaucrats.
Following the High Court’s interim order, AIIMS faculty and students called off the strike they had launched to protest against the attempt by Union Health Minister Ramadoss to throw out Venugopal. Venugopal resumed charge on Saturday, July 8. Medical services at the institute have now returned to normal.
Reacting to the High Court order, Health Minister Ramadoss said the Centre will take legal actions including moving the Supreme Court against the stay order. He said a decision on the issue would be taken after discussing it with the Attorney General. He claimed that it was not a setback for the Health Ministry. He said it was a collective decision of the AIIMS governing body, and not a personal agenda.
The Parliament’s Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare has deplored the Health Ministry’s move to ease out Venugopal. A resolution passed by the committee said, “the Committee deplores the action taken by the governing council of AIIMS and requests the Government to reconsider the stand.” The resolution was adopted unanimously by the Committee headed by Amar Singh of the Samajwadi Party.
The Left parties have disapproved of the developments at AIIMS, calling the move to remove Venugopal as unfortunate, the CPI(M) has requested the Government to intervene and amicably settle the issue.
Reacting to the governing body decision, a delegation of BJP leaders met President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Thursday, July 6, and demanded the sacking of Health Minister Ramadoss for what they called destroying the autonomy of All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
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