Tribunal quashes appointment of PGI Head of Department

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 5

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Chandigarh Bench, has quashed the order of the PGI to appoint Prof Anish Bhattacharya as Head of the Department (HOD), Nuclear Medicine, PGI, Chandigarh.

The tribunal pronounced the order on an application of Dr Baljinder Singh, a professor of the department of nuclear medicine. Dr Baljinder Singh challenged the order of the PGI through senior advocate Gurminder Singh alleging that the appointment of Professor Bhattacharya was made ignoring his seniority.

Amit Jhanji, senior advocate, with AK Premi, advocate, appearing on behalf of the PGI, argued that the appointment of Prof Bhattacharya as HOD was made on the basis of the decision of the governing body of the institute and the order of the PGI Director issued in 2007 which recommended that the departments running postgraduate degrees like MD/MS/DM/MCh should be headed only by a person holding a basic medical degree, i.e. MBBS degree. The PGI issued the order for the appointment of Dr Bhattacharya as HOD on January 18, 2021.

The PGI claimed that Dr Baljinder Singh did not possess an MBBS degree and the senior most professor who possessed the degree had been appointed.

Dr Baljinder Singh, in the plea before the CAT, said he had qualifications of MSc (Biophysics) and PhD (Biophysics) and was appointed Assistant Professor (Medical Physics) in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the PGI on July 30, 1997. He was promoted professor in 2010. He is the senior-most professor in the department.

Gurminder argued that the classification drawn by the PGI between the medical and non-medical qualifications for appointment as Head, Department of Nuclear Medicine, is bereft of any logic or reason and is without any basis as there is no such requirement in the statutory recruitment rules and any decision taken contrary to the rules cannot be sustained in the eye of law.

He further argued that there is no logic or reason for arriving at the decision as HOD is not a post but only a designation conferred upon a senior-most faculty member in the department. When a number of other departments have head of department with non-medical qualification, there is no reason to deny such benefit to the applicant.

After hearing of the arguments, the Bench, comprising members Rakesh Kumar Gupta and Suresh Kumar Monga, said, “In our opinion, there is no power vested with the Standing Academic Committee to evolve a policy decision to make an appointment as HOD to supervise the day to day administrative work of a department. Neither the Governing Body of the Institute has such power to ratify such a policy decision.”

The Bench said as per the rule 7 (1) of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Act, 1966, no post above the level of associate professor can be created except with the prior approval of the Centre. The Bench has directed the institute to either amend the regulations while deriving its powers from Regulation 32 of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Act, 1966 or it should initiate the matter with the Centre and seek requisite directions to make appointment to the office of HOD in Nuclear Medicine and in all other departments, wherever the selection committee suspects a similar kind of controversies in future, so that an efficient administration of the Act is ensured and the objects of the institute as set up in Section 12 of the Act are achieved at its maximum.

The Bench further directed that the necessary exercise be initiated forthwith and the whole exercise be completed within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. Thereafter, if the applicant is found eligible for appointment to the office of HOD in Nuclear Medicine, then he be appointed forthwith as such.

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