JKHC asks SKIMS to form committee for 'eligible' Urology head

Srinagar, June 5 (UNI) The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) to constitute a committee to assess the eligibility of the present head of department of Urology within reasonable period of time so that a deserving and suitable candidate assumed the post.

A single Bench of Justice Bashir Ahmad Kirmani directed SKIMS to appoint a duly qualified committee to assess the eligibility of Dr Baldev Singh as Professor and Head of Urology department in accordance with the rules.

The court also asked the institute to form a separate committee or entrust the job to this committee to check departments headed by ineligible candidates and appoint eligible ones in their place without creating any vacuum.

The Bench also recommended that in order to address the problem, SKIMS should create an in-house mechanism for redressal of genuine grievances, which could help create thorough professional approach and save the institute and faculty the burden of unwanted bickering.

The court directions came on a writ petition filed by Dr M Saleem Wani, challenging the appointment of Dr Baldev Singh as Professor in the Urology Department on grounds of his ineligibility.

After hearing arguments from both the sides, the court observed that the petitioner was at present not in a position to seek the appointment on the post as professor in Urology Department and the respondent who has not an MCH degree lacks eligibility on that count, particularly when he originally belongs to the Department of General Surgery.

As Dr Baldev Singh was running the department since 1989 and to avoid vacuum in the department, the court ordered that the present arrangement should be allowed to continue till the committee recommended an eligible candidate for the post.

UNI