SINAM SEKHARJIT SINGH Vs. THE UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER was appointed to the post of Director, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Imphal in the pay scale of Rs. 67,000 to 79,000/ - w.e.f. the day on which he assumes charge of the post for a period of 5 years or till his superannuation or until further orders whichever is earlier. In pursuance of the said order, the petitioner joined as Director of the RIMS and while working as such the impugned order dated 25.8.2014 was passed relieving him from his duty as Director, RIMS with immediate effect and further directing one Dr. Ch. Arun Kumar Singh, Head of Department & Prof(Orthopaedics), RIMS until further orders. Challenging the above order dt. 25.8.2014, this writ petition has been filed.

(2.) THE case of the petitioner is that RIMS is a society which was registered initially under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, now under Manipur Societies Registration Act, 1989 vide Registration No. 1777 of 1975. It is an autonomous Institute under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India and is also financed and controlled by the said Ministry. It being a society, it has its Rules & Regulations and bye -laws. So far as the post of Director, RIMS is concerned, the appointing authority, disciplinary authority and the authority competent to impose penalty is vested with the President of the Board of Governors as per the Memorandum of Association. The petitioner was appointed as Director of the said Institute, RIMS by order dated 14.9.2010 for a period of 5 years or till his superannuation or until further orders whichever is earlier. As per the said appointment order, the petitioner was to serve as Director of RIMS for a period of 5 years, i.e. upto 14.9.2015. According to the petitioner, he could only be terminated from service and without passing any such order of termination and without giving him opportunity of hearing, the impugned order was passed on 25.8.2014 relieving him of his duties as Director, RIMS with immediate effect. The said impugned order dated 25.8.2014 is challenged by the petitioner on the following grounds:

(3.) A newspaper clipping dt. 18.7.2014 published in Imphal local Newspaper was received by the Ministry and the clipping was under the heading, "DESAM accuses RIMS Director of nepotism, corruption." In the above published column, DESAM levelled various allegations of corruption and nepotism against the petitioner and urged to constitute a panel to probe into the charges of misconduct on the part of the petitioner in collusion with his wife, Dr. N. Damayanti, Professor of Anatomy of the Institute. It is further stated in the counter of the respondents - 1 to 4 that the petitioner did not co -operate with any kind of investigation for which a decision was taken to relieve him from the post of Director, RIMS and replace him with the senior -most Professor and consequently the impugned order dated 25.8.2014 was passed. It is further alleged that instead of complying with the said order dt. 25.8.2014, the petitioner did not allow the senior -most Professor to take charge of the office of the Director and locked the office. The wife of the petitioner was also laid a protest march against the said order dated 25.8.2014. It is further stated in the counter affidavit that considering the serious allegations made against the petitioner, the Ministry thought it proper to conduct an enquiry and also thought it proper to relieve him from the post pending enquiry.