HC gives AIIMS Bhopal ‘last chance’ to file reply on PIL over 14 appointments

Jabalpur, Mar 28 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh High Court has given the “last chance” to the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, to file its reply on a plea seeking the removal of 14 “ineligible” staffers appointed in 2012.

A division bench of Chief Justice SK Kait and Justice Vivek Jain gave four weeks to AIIMS Bhopal when it sought time to submit its response in connection with a public interest litigation (PIL).

“Last opportunity is granted to the respondents who have not filed the reply to the present petition to do so within four weeks, failing which the same shall be accepted with a cost of Rs 10,000 each,” the bench said on March 25.

Petitioner Prakash Chouksey told PTI on Friday that he has sought the removal of 14 professors on the basis of the findings of a three-member internal committee of AIIMS that had held that they were ineligible for the posts.

“Complaints were made to AIIMS Delhi and other authorities, but no action was taken to remove these teachers,” said Chouksey, a Bhopal-based advocate and social worker.

The petitioner said he moved HC in 2019, but AIIMS Bhopal has not yet filed its reply to the PIL despite notices being served to it in the past. He claimed that notices were served last in January 2024.