National
SC asks CIAA to stop action against doctors
The Supreme Court on Friday issued an interim order against the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority to stop action against seven doctors of the Institute of Medicine (IoM), Tribhuvan University.Manish Gautam
The Supreme Court on Friday issued an interim order against the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority to stop action against seven doctors of the Institute of Medicine (IoM), Tribhuvan University.
Responding to a writ filed by the doctors, a single bench of Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai ruled that such action against the doctors is beyond the CIAA’s constitutional jurisdiction. The apex court also asked the CIAA to furnish written clarification within 15 days.
On Thursday, the doctors had filed a writ at the apex court arguing that the CIAA overstepped its jurisdiction while taking the “prejudiced” decision. They include Acting IoM Dean Dr Bimal Sinha, Dr Sarad Onta, Dr JP Agrawal, Dr Dinesh Binod Pokhrel, Dr Madhu Devkota, Dr Krishna KC and Raj Devi Adhikari. The university, after directives from the CIAA, on June 16 recorded statement of the doctors. On July 31, clarification was sought from them again.
The CIAA claims that during one of the inspections at the Gandaki Medical College, the doctors did not verify the total faculty members while allocating seats.
Against the claim of 135 MBBS seats by the GMC, the IoM faculty board had allocated 90 seats. Nepal Medical Council later increased the seats to 95 before it was allowed to admit undergraduate medical students.
“The CIAA tried to defame us on irrelevant issues. We allocated seats less than what was demanded after verification,” said one of the doctors.
On May 15, the CIAA wrote to the TU asking it to take action against the doctors “because the seats were allocated without verification of the faculty members”.
Sources said the real reason behind the action is something else. One of the CIAA commissioners, Raj Narayan Pathak, had asked Dr Sinha and Dr Onta to make sure that his daughter is selected for a PG programme. After the IoM office bearers denied such favour, Pathak had warned of consequences. Immediately after, the CIAA wrote to the TU in a retaliatory move against the doctors, a high-level source at the IoM said.
The CIAA cannot take action against officials for their “wrongful deeds”. Article 239 of the Constitution of Nepal states that the CIAA has the right to investigate only into corruption charges.