The Hindu : National : Venugopal's termination move vitiated under law: Court

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Wednesday, Jul 12, 2006

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Venugopal's termination move vitiated under law: Court

New Delhi: Holding that no evidence was produced to justify that AIIMS Director P. Venugopal had "failed miserably in his administrative duties," the Delhi High Court has ruled that the July 5 action of the Government to terminate his services was "vitiated."

If the removal of the Director is on account of the violation of Rule 9 of the code of conduct for allegedly speaking against the Government, then he should have been given a "reasonable notice and hearing," before taking a decision to remove him, Justice Anil Kumar said while staying the Governing body's resolution authorising Mr. Venugopal's termination.

"No hearing has been given to him and even before the Governing body, it seems no such material has been produced which could be the basis of forming such an opinion.

In the circumstances, the petitioner (Mr. Venugopal) has been able to make out a prima facie case that termination of his tenure post is vitiated under law," the court said .

Referring to the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Gopal Subramaniam's submission that Mr. Venugopal's removal was necessitated by "public interest," and his "miserable failure" as director, Mr. Justice Kumar maintained that when a statutory body make an order based on certain grounds its validity must be judged by the reasons considered and so mentioned in the charge sheet and cannot be supplemented by fresh reasons. — PTI

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