NEW DELHI: The ongoing protest by scholars and researchers has ruffled the feathers of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Sources told this newspaper that the premier medical institute’s administration is mulling over taking legal action against those who led the agitation.
A senior official privy to the matter said that an inquiry from the AIIMS director’s office was made to the institute’s legal cell asking scope of legal actions that could be taken against the agitated employees who are on a strike against a controversial recruitment guideline for the research staff. The administration may cite a May 20, 2002 order by Delhi High Court to intimidate the protestors. The order prohibits demonstrations within 500 meters of the institute’s campus, sources said.
“No employee or staff or faculty member will cease work for any reason whatsoever or disturbs the work or aid or abet such disruption or cessation. No use of loudspeakers or shouting of slogans, demonstrations, dharna within the campus,” the order said.
The order also prohibits gate meetings or protest meetings of all kinds. If at all they have to be held, they should at least be away from the boundary of the institute by a 500-meter radius. “They may take disciplinary action against leaders of the protest to mount pressure,” the official added.
Meanwhile, the administration has a circular reiterating that employees should remain in their seats and leave only during lunch hour and asked supervisory officers to keep a watch over “unpunctuality.” Sources said the move is aimed to deter gatherings for protest during work and lunch hours. “Regulation 33 of AIIMS Regulations, 2019 provides that every Government servant at all times maintain devotion to duty and maintain discipline in the discharge of its duties.
It has been observed that a fair number of employees do not observe punctuality in official timings despite issuance of instructions to this effect in the recent past...the Supervisory Officers should keep strict watch over the staff working under their direct control and ensure proper punctuality in office timings,” the circular read.
Hundreds of researchers, scholars, and scientists from the institute hit the street on Thursday to demonstrate their angst against a peculiar order from the Union Health Ministry which caps the employment of staff engaged in research and immediate termination after a certain period. The order limits the employment of research staff to six years. After this period, researchers can be terminated with immediate effect even if their project is underway.
