The Prime Minister's Office has reconstituted the search-cum-selection committee, tasked with shortlisting names for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director's post. Following the order from the PMO, the reconstituted committee would be headed by the Health Secretary instead of the Union Health Minister.
The new five-member panel will be led by Health Secretary CK Mishra as the chairman. The committee will include Principal Scientific Adviser to PMR Chidambaram, Secretary in Department of Health Research Soumya Swaminathan, director General of Health Services (DGHS) Jagdish Prasad and Vice Chancellor of the Delhi University Yogesh Tyagi.
Amid allegations of nepotism against some members of the panel, last week the new order of reconstitution of the search panel based on DoPT guidelines was given. "We had recommended the names for the search-cum-selection committee which has been approved by the DoPT and the order has come today," said a senior official in the Health Ministry.
Sources said a strict guideline to check the background and qualification of the finalised candidates would be followed. As per rules, the search-cum-selection committee selects a name from the list of candidates which is then sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister for final approval. It is learnt the move came after some applicants for the AIIMS top job accused some members of the panel of conflict of interest as they have close relationship with a particular candidate. They have also raised the issue of eligibility of promotion of professors for the director's post. Earlier, a search-cum-selection panel under the chairmanship of Health Minister JP Nadda was constituted to select the new director of AIIMS.
"The PMO had ordered the reconstitution of the committee after certain issues concerning members of the panel were raised. Also, DoPT had sought opinion of the PMO regarding AIIMS president JP Nadda chairing the panel," a source said. According to sources, 53 eminent doctors, including 35 candidates from outside AIIMS, have applied for the post and the screening of applications is complete. The main contenders for the top post, include VK Paul, Head of the Department (HOD) of Paediatrics, Randeep Guleria, HOD of Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep Disorders and Alka Kriplani, HOD of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Current AIIMS director M C Mishra is set to retire on January 31 next year.