Venugopal misses his date with SC panel

For the second time, AIIMS Director P Venugopal on Monday failed to appear before the National Commission for Scheduled Castes that is probing allegations of caste discrimination in the premier medical institute.

He had sent a written request to the Commission asking to be excused from the hearing as he was busy preparing for the AIIMS convocation to be held tomorrow, sources said .

Venugopal had also not attended the last hearing on September 24 and the Commission has issued a summons to appear before it on its next hearing, they said.

Union Health Secretary Naresh Dayal who appeared before the panel said the Ministry has accepted the S.K. Thorat committee report on the matter and would submit the Action Taken Report within 15 days.

The Commission began the probe following complaints from reserved category senior resident doctors that instead of allotting 50 per cent seats to them, the AIIMS authorities gave appointment letters to only 24 out of the 106 selected candidates.

It had earlier found instances of “gross injustice” and “systematic violation” against SC doctors and students in the institute.