New panel to shortlist names for AIIMS Director on Jan 6

New Delhi: A newly-constituted five-member panel will meet here next week to shortlist the names out of the 53 candidates who have applied for the post of Director of AIIMS, a favoured public institution for medical education.

The committee comprises Principal Scientific Adviser to the prime minister, R Chidambaram; Secretary in Department of Health Research Soumya Swaminathan; Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Jagdish Prasad; and Vice Chancellor of Delhi University Yogesh Tyagi.

The meeting of the panel - which has been approved by the Director of Personnel and Training (DoPT) - will be chaired by Health Secretary C K Mishra.

"Secretary (HFW), chairman of the search-cum-selection committee has conveyed his convenience to hold the meeting on January 6 at 11 AM in his chamber at Nirman Bhawan," read a communique sent to Director AIIMS by Rabindra Prasad, Director in the Ministry of Health.

AIIMS administration has received 53 applications, including 35 from candidates outside the institution.

"Members of the new search-cum-selection committee will shortlist a few names, which will then have to be approved by the Institute Body before being sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the prime minister for final approval," a senior official at AIIMS said.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) last week had ordered a reconstitution of the search panel based on DoPT guidelines amid allegations of nepotism.

A search-cum-selection panel under the chairmanship of Health Minister J P Nadda was previously constituted to select the new Director of AIIMS.

AIIMS was established as an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament. The information on the institutes's website says its obejective is to develop patterns and a high standard of teaching in undergraduate and post-graduate medical education in India.