Sacked MCI secy moves CAT
A week after the health ministry terminated the services of secretary of the Medical Council of India ( MCI), the latter has filed a case in the Central Administration Terminal ( CAT) challenging her termination.
While Dr Sangeeta Sharma, former MCI secretary, was appointment last year by the earlier regime of the MCI, the health ministry declared her appointment invalid and sacked her last week with immediate effect on March 31.
In her petition, she has challenged the MCI’S decision to sack her contending she was a permanent employee and had completed her probation period. She has also stated in her application before the CAT that her selection was done through proper channel and was given the appointment only after she was found eligible.
“Its disheartening as after having done such hard work in the MCI I was sacked. I think for my dignity, I want to know the reasons for this kind of an action taken,” Dr Sharma told this newspaper.
Sources in the health min- istry say that there were three major grounds for the decision — that the appointment had not been referred to the Cabinet committee on appointments, vigilance approval had not been sought for it and the experience requirement for the post was not met by Dr Sharma. The post required 16 years of experience, including 10 years of teaching in a government medical college.
“So was that my duty to check these things. If I was not qualified enough or was not experienced enough for the post why was I appointed in the first place? asked Dr Sharma.
Dr Sharma says that the major reason for her being sacked from her job could be her differences with the existing chairman of the board of governors K. K. Talwar. Last year in June, Dr Sharma had resigned from the post after a heated argument between the two. Dr Sharma in her resignation letter had said then that she was putting her papers “under duress”. However, the BOG had requested her then to rethink and she withdrew her resignation. That time too the Union health ministry had raised objections to her appointment.