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Cuttack, April 30: In a jolt to the state government, the High Court Thursday quashed the appointment of OAS officer Saroj Kumar Samal to the post of Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre (AHRCC) director as he lacked required qualifications.
Terming the appointment unconstitutional, a bench of Justices I Mohanty and B Ratha, acting on a petition filed by Siba Charan Ghose, directed the state government to appoint a senior professor of the cancer institute as its director.
The government will have to initiate a recruitment process in order to identify a suitably qualified senior medical professional who will be appointed as the cancer centre’s director in case the senior-most professor does not wish to be elevated to the post.
Petitioner Ghose maintained that the health and family welfare department’s decision to appoint the OAS officer, who is also the additional MD of National Health Mission, as the head of the only state-run cancer hospital in Orissa was in violation of every law including those laid down by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and AHRCC byelaws.
Ghose submitted that MCI guidelines on appointment of heads of medical institutions have clearly stipulated that such posts can be held only by a senior professor with considerable experience in the field of cancer treatment. Both MCI and AHRCC byelaws have categorically stated that the condition remained the same even in the case of temporary appointments to the post as in-charge. However, the health department has blatantly flouted all rules to impose a person with a non-medical background as the head of such a specialised health institution as AHRCC, which is the sole refuge for thousands of poor patients of the state, the petition stated.
Terming the appointment as illegal and arbitrary, the petitioner had appealed to the court to quash the government order and immediately appoint a senior professor as the head. Earlier, the appointment was criticised by several quarters while some said appointing an already overburdened bureaucrat to the post was unconstitutional.
