Dr Venugopal says he is appointed for 5 years

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Mar 19 (UNI) AIIMS Director P Venugopal today told the Delhi High Court that the Government was applying two different yardsticks-- one for the AIIMS and another for the Post Graduate Institute(PGI) at Chandigarh, even though both are autonomous medical institutes.

Advocate Maninder Singh appearing for Dr Venugopal before a bench of Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice H R Malhotra said the Government wanted the AIIMS Director to abdicate head-of-the-department post, whereas in case of PGI it prayed he could hold it in public interest.

Submitting before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the government had said that the PGI director could treat the patients as a professor in public interest, whereas in the case of Dr Venugopal it was persuing different yardsticks, added Mr Singh.

Mr Singh said the statue of the AIIMS did not specify any upper age limit for the director.

''It was mutuality of both functions in the part of a director of such medical institutes,'' he said.

The upper age limit of 62 for superannuation would not be applicable in Dr Venugopal's case as he was appointed for a period of five years.

The arguments remained inconclusive.

The Central Government, AIIMS and Institute Governing body had filed a petition challenging the November 2006 order of the single bench which stayed the dismissal of Dr Venugopal.

The Government has charged Dr Venugopal of financial mismanagement, maladministration, parochial attitude and tacit support to the strike during the anti-reservation agitation.

In July 2006, a decision was taken by the Institute President and Union Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss supported by the majority of the 17 members of the Institute Governing Body(IB) to sack Dr Venugopal from his post.

The High Court had stayed the decision following a petition filed by Dr Venugopal challenging the decision for his termination.

After the court's intervention, the government withdrew its decision.

UNI

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