The Delhi high court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a fresh application which challenged the appointment of Dr Shyam Prasad as member of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences' body on the ground that he was handpicked by the Health Minister A Ramdoss overlooking the rules.
Justice P Anil Kumar asked the Centre to file its reply within two weeks and posted the matter for further hearing to November 8.
The application filed by one Dr Kale and some others of the AIIMS alleged that Prasad was appointed contrary to the rules as the Supreme Court had earlier ruled that only those persons who were in some way or the other connected to the institute should be appointed to the body.
Counsel Viraj Datar appearing for the petitioners submitted that Prasad was handpicked by the minister after Dr Rajashekar, a close relative of Ramadoss resigned after a petition was filed challenging his locus standi in the institute's body.
It was alleged that Prasad was the vice president of the National Board of Examinations of which Rajashekar was the president.
After Rajashekar was compelled to resign, the minister inducted Prasad into the institute's body on August 11, though the latter was never associated with it till date, the petition alleged.
Meanwhile, Justice Kumar posted till Tuesday for further hearing Venugopal's petition challenging the reported move of the Centre to terminate his services at the governing body's meeting slated for October 18.
Counsel Maninder Singh appearing for Venugopal argued that the October 18 meeting was illegal as the mandatory requirement of two week's notice time was not given to the director as stipulated under the act.
Alleging that the meeting was intended to terminate the director's services, the counsel pleaded that the intended action was not only illegal, but would destroy the "profound professional reputation built up by Dr Venugopal for the past 50 years."
However, the Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra in his brief intervention said the move to take action against Venugopal was taken in view of what he called "total adminstrative collapse" of the institute.
He maintained that the reputation of the institute was paramount for the government's rather than any individual's (Venugopal's) interests.
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