Sunday, May 8 2005 10:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on a petition challenging the ad hoc appointment of 164 persons as Assistant Professors and their immediate promotion to the post of Associate Professors in different disciplines in 2003.

A Bench comprising Justice N Santosh Hegde and Justice S B Sinha sought reply from Ministry of Health and AIIMS on a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by some doctors of the premier institute alleging that the exercise was carried out in violation of the rules and regulations.

The petitioners have challenged the Delhi High Court judgement dismissing their Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the issue on the ground of maintainability.

In the PIL, it was submitted that the selections and appointments was an eye-wash to regularise the services of the ad hoc appointees who were not even eligible for the post at the time of appointment.

Those ad hoc appointees had approached the court for regularisation of their services but later they colluded with the AIIMS management and withdrew the petition clearing the deck for their appointment as Assistant Professors, the petitioner alleged.

The SLP claimed that the selection process was manipulated and the guidelines for selection of Assistant Professors were overlooked.