HC seeks Sudhir Gupta's reply on AIIMS' plea for his removal

The Delhi high court on Wednesday sought the response of All India Institute of Medical Sciences 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 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 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.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy also filed an application seeking court’s permission to be heard in the matter.

Swamy informed the court that even though the issue related to service matter, the alleged controversy was of public interest and so he wanted to address the court on it.

The BJP leader said that Gupta’s decision not to give favourable report in Sunanda Pushkar case was correct.

In its application, AIIMS had said that Bhardwaj was senior to Gupta by four years and the latter had not challenged the former’s seniority either before CAT or in the high court.

Absolving former Union minister and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor of the charge of any wrong-doing, CAT had said, “the e-mail sent by Shashi Tharoor, the then Union minister, to Dr Rajiv Bhasin, on January 26, 2014, and the notice dated June 2, 2014 issued by Dr Adarsh Kumar, member secretary, medical board, AIIMS, do not reveal anything to show that any pressure was put on the applicant to submit a tailor-made autopsy report in Sunanda Pushkar’s case.”

In his complaint before the tribunal, Gupta had alleged he was asked to prepare tailor-made autopsy report giving clean chit, irrespective of his professional conclusions, after conducting autopsy on Pushkar’s body.

The government had denied the allegations before CAT on August 27 last year, stating that the matter regarding Murty’s promotion was referred to the Department of Personnel and Training and he was promoted only after its clarification.

Gupta in his plea also alleged that Murty had “started creating difficulty in the routine functioning of Gupta as HoD, claiming seniority illegally conferred upon him.”

He contended that the CAT findings were “illegal and contrary to the law and facts and circumstances of the present case”. 

Image: Sudhir Gupta said that he was asked to prepare a tailor made autopsy giving a clean chit in the Sunanda Pushkar murder case.