SC remands AIIMS illegal appointments case back to Delhi HC

New Delhi, Mar 2 (UNI) Taking a serious note of the illegal appointment of 164 assistant profesors, 64 of whom have been promoted to the rank of associate professor at AIIMS, the Supreme Court today told the government '' AIIMS is really ailing.'' A bench comprising Justice S B Sinha and Justice Markandey Katju has remanded the case back to the Delhi High Court for deciding the issue afresh on merit irrespective of whether the PIL filed by additional professor Dr Sarman Singh challenging the illegal appointment was maintainable or not.

Counsel for the petitioner, Mr Barun Kumar Sinha contended before the court that the accused assistant professors were being allowed to continue illegally for over a decade through collusion between the Union Health Ministry and the AIIMS administration. Such illegal appointments will have an adverse impact on teaching, research and patient care at the premier medical institute of the country, he added.

Countering the contention of additional solicitor general Vikas Singh that the 164 doctors have been serving the institute for over 16 years, the judges said ''forget about 15 or 20 years, if their appiontments were illegal they should be immediately sacked and there is no justification for their continuation.'' The court also directed that the asssistant and associate professors in question should be made a party to the petition being refered back to the High Court.

The assistant and associate professors were appointed on an ad hoc basis in 1994 and were allowed to continue on till 2001 while ad hoc appointment can only be for three months.

In 2002 they filed a petition with the High Court for regularisation of their services.

The High Court had dismissed the petition against which they moved the Supreme Court in 2003.

The ministry told them to withdraw their appeal from the Supreme Court assuring regularisation of their services.

The Supreme Court had earlier passed an interim order directing the authorities to go ahead with the selection process but restrained them from announcing the results without prior permission of the court.

Interviews were conducted in 2003 and the institute sat over the results and petitions were secretly withdrawn from the Supreme Court.

The then Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj and the director of AIIMS regularised their services on June 4, 2003 and within 26 days 64 of them were promoted to the rank of associate professor and those selected through the proper selection process were left in the lurch.

Today's apex court order has given a ray of hope to those who went through the due selection process after applications were invited through advertisements in newspapers.

The government in its affidavit has admitted the fact of illegal and collusive appointments.

UNI