PM-led panel seeks more names for selecting next AIIMS Delhi Director: Sources

On Monday, June 20, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) sought a wider panel of names for the post of director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, official sources said.

The tenure of the incumbent AIIMS director, Dr Randeep Guleria, was extended by three months, which was earlier set to end on March 24. 

Three doctors shortlisted for post

Earlier in March, a search-cum-selection committee short-listed the names of three doctors and subsequently approved by the Institute Body, the top decision-making body of the AIIMS, were sent to the ACC for final approval.

Nikhil Tandon, head of the department of endocrinology; Rajesh Malhotra, chief of AIIMS Trauma Centre and the head of the department of orthopaedics; and Pramod Garg, professor in the gastroenterology department were the three AIIMS doctors whose names were recommended earlier. 

"...the Competent Authority in the ACC has directed to return the instant proposal with the request to send a wider panel of names for consideration of the ACC," an official source told PTI, quoting an office memorandum sent to the Union Health Ministry by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Department of Personnel and Training on June 20.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan leads the four-member search-cum-selection committee tasked with short-listing names for the AIIMS director's post. 

Apart from Bhushan, the committee includes Secretary of Department of Biotechnology Rajesh S Gokhale, Principal Scientific Advisor to the government K Vijay Raghavan, and Delhi University vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh.

(With PTI input)

(Image: PTI)