Regular Director appt of RIMS put on hold
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 10 2018:
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (NE Section) has instructed the authority concerned to keep the order issued by the Ministry itself on October 5 appointing Ahanthem Shanta as regular Director of RIMS on direct recruitment basis, on hold for some time.
According to an official source of RIMS, the Ministry sent an email instructing the authority concerned to keep the order at abeyance/hold for some time.
However, when The Sangai Express requested to have a look at the mail, the source declined saying that the mail was not signed and it did not mention anything about giving away the information to any other party.
On the other hand, another source claimed that the email sent by the Ministry to keep its earlier order on hold is genuine and added that the official order signed by the Under Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which was issued on October 5 appointing A Shanta as the regular Director of RIMS, also contained details that the appointment was approved by Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
However, it also mentioned that the appointment is subject to the outcome of the Special Leave Petition (SLP) No 15093- 15095/2017 pending in the Supreme Court, the source added.
It may be mentioned that a DPC for the appointment of a regular Director of the institute was conducted on January 13 last year and Dr Ahanthem Shanta was also a candidate in the said DPC.
Following a complaint raised by a party before the High Court of Manipur objecting the said DPC, the High Court decided that the said DPC was not applicable and ordered the authority concerned to conduct another DPC based on a new set of appointment rules.
Following the judgement of the High Court of Manipur, the candidates who participated in the earlier DPC formed an association and filed an SLP to the Supreme Court praying for announcement of the DPC which was conducted on January 13, 2017.Although many hearings were conducted, a final order is yet to be passed, the source informed and added that Dr A Shanta has a pending case against him before the Central Administrative Tribunal.
The source added that taking all these factors into account, the directive of the Ministry to keep the appointment of Dr Shanta as regular Director of RIMS on hold is reasonable.
However, many were relieved when he was appointed as a regular Director of the institute as RIMS has been reeling under the impact of the lack of a regular Director for quite some time, the source informed.
On the other hand many are dissatisfied with the latest action of the Ministry.