New Delhi : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of AIIMS forensic department head Sudhir Kumar Gupta, who had alleged discrimination after he claimed to have refused to act unprofessionally in the Sunanda Pushkar autopsy matter, on a plea by the institute seeking his replacement.
A bench of Justices G S Sistani and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal also issued notice to Gupta on the plea of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) which also sought the court’s permission to appoint Dr D N Bhardwaj as the new head of its Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department.
“Issue notice. List the matter for July 23,” the bench said, adding that Gupta should file an affidavit before the next date of hearing. The application was moved by AIIMS against the backdrop of the court’s March 25 direction by which it had asked AIIMS to take its permission before replacing Gupta. Senior advocate Amarendra Sharan and advocate Amit Kumar, appearing for Gupta, opposed the application moved by AIIMS. The court’s March 25 order had come on Gupta’s plea challenging a March 4 decision of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) rejecting his charge that one Dr O P Murty was promoted after purging his seniority, with the purpose of obtaining a “tailor-made report” in the sensational murder case of Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor.
Gupta had also alleged that AIIMS had illegally purged his seniority with “malafide intention” to punish him for refusing to act unprofessionally in the autopsy matter.
