A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday upheld a verdict of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Ernakulam Bench, setting aside the extension of the tenure of Asha Kishore as Director of the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram.
The tribunal had set aside an order of the president of the institute extending the tenure of Dr. Kishore on the ground that the Institute Body (IB) had not obtained the approval of the Centre’s Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC).
Dismissing Dr. Kishore’s petition challenging the tribunal judgment, the Bench comprising Justice A.M. Shaffique and Justice Gopinath P. observed that going by the statutory provisions, it might be true that the institute had the power to extend the tenure of its Director, but such an extension should be done with the prior approval of the committee.
ACC approval
Since ACC approval had not been obtained, there was justification on the part of the tribunal in rejecting the plea of Dr. Kishore and therefore, necessarily, a fresh selection had to be conducted for making appointment to the post of Director.
The Centre contended that the president of the institute had not complied with its directives specifying that the approval of the ACC was required for the extension of tenure of Dr. Kishore. Therefore, the tribunal was justified in interfering with the decision of the president.
The tribunal issued the order while allowing a petition filed by Sajith Sukumaran, Additional Professor, SCTIMST, challenging the decision to extend the tenure of Dr. Kishore.
