By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Friday decided to hear a petition filed by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director P. Venugopal challenging a parliamentary legislation which he says has been enacted to ease him out of his office.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan agreed to hear the plea after Venugopal’s counsel Mukul Rohtagi mentioned the matter before it.
The legislation — titled All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and Post Graduate Institute for Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh (Amendment) Act, 2007 — seeks to limit the tenure of the directors of the two institutes to a maximum of five years or till they reach the retirement age of 65, whichever is earlier.
According to the provisions of the original law passed in 1956, AIIMS directors are appointed for a fixed tenure of five years, irrespective of their age.
Venugopal, 66, was appointed director in July 2003 at the age of 63 and is due to retire as director in July 2008 at the age of 67.