Venugopal to resign as Head of CT dept: HC

New Delhi, Mar 29: The Delhi High Court today held that AIIMS Director P Venugopal could not be removed but he will have to abdicate the post of Head of Cardio-thoracic department. A Division Bench comprising Justices Swatanter Kumar and HR Malhotra said the AIIMS Governing Body is supreme in taking any decision regarding the institute. The post of Institute's Director has a fixed-tenure and Dr Venugopal could not be dismissed without following the due procedure mentioned in the constitution of the institute.

In the interest of public service , the Director should not hold the post of Head of Cardio-thoracic Surgery department.

A director is also an employee of the institute and is governed by its rules.

The court vacated the stay granted by a single bench on the dismissal of Dr Venugopal by the institute's governing body last year.

The court said whenever there would be such a decision in future by the governing body , the Director would be given 15 days time to decide his course of action.

UNI