AIIMS boss charged for criticizing government

Dr. P. Venugopal, the Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences openly criticized government and was sacked on Wednesday after an institute body meet was held.

The meeting was chaired by Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, who recommended his sacking. The students and faculty members went down on strike immediately after hearing this decision.

Venugapal was sacked for the violation of the code of conduct. A three hour long meeting was held at Nirman Bhawan. Ramodoss and 16 other government nominees passed this proposal of removing Venugopal.

Venugopal went public with the institute’s problems when this should have been solved in a private forum. The government has sought explanation regarding this from him. Venugopal is already 64, well past the retirement age. He has been found guilty under rule 9(criticism of the government) of conduct rules.

It is said that Venugopal gathered students, staff and people from outside in the auditorium and openly criticized the government which caused a lot of tension in AIIMS. Due to this, it has been decided to bring his term to an end.

The final termination orders passed by the Directors have to be first cleared by the cabinet appointment committee. This will take almost three years.

The feud between Ramadoss and Venugopal goes back to the anti-quota protests. The minister had accused Venugopal for initiating the protests whereas Venugopal had complained that Ramadoss was interfafing in the functioning of AIIMS.

On Wednesday, five items were listed on the agenda before the meeting started. But Ramadoss suddenly brought in a supplementary resolution calling for Vengopal’s resolution. He got this just minutes before the meeting was suppose to begin.

Ramadoss said that he cannot run away from his responsibilities as he is answerable to the government. He said that Venugopal could be given 3 months salary and asked to leave.