Thaindian News

New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has asked the premier All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) to temporarily suspend the recruitment process of hiring faculty from the reserved category, sources said Saturday.The order came as a surprise for many in the institute as a parliamentary panel and a health ministry-appointed committee has asked the institute, which they had found at fault, to appoint faculty members from the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and the Other Backward Caste (OBC).

The letter from the health ministry states: “…the matter is under consideration under the PMO. Hence the process of recruitment under special recruitment drive for SC/ST/OBC as advertised on 4.11.08 may be kept in abeyance till further order.”

The letter is signed by director health and family welfare ministry Santosh Kumar. It was sent on Dec 11 and was received by the AIIMS Director T.D. Dogra the next day, health ministry sources told IANS.

Apart from the parliamentary panel, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who is the champion of rights of reserved category and is AIIMS president, had formed a committee under MP Karan Singh Yadav to look into the matter.

The committee in its report had pulled up the institute for failing to fill reserved category seats of faculty members.

Following the slam, the institute had come out with an advertisement calling for eligible candidates.

The latest move comes despite the PMO earlier asking the University Grants Commission to conduct special recruitment drives to fill up the backlog of reserved faculty positions.

The institute was in the centre of a storm two years ago when students raised anti-reservation slogans and agitated after the United progressive Alliance (UPA) government tried to introduce Other Backward Caste (OBC) quota in higher education.