Orissa High Court halts final selection of Assistant Professors at Cuttack AHPGIC over rule violation allegations

The Orissa High Court has intervened in the ongoing recruitment process for assistant professor posts at Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute of Cancer (AHPGIC), a premier Odisha government-run super-speciality cancer institute in Cuttack.

In its directive, the court has allowed the recruitment procedure to continue, but issued a stay on the final selection of candidates until further orders.

The advertisement had invited applications for 17 assistant professor posts across six super-speciality disciplines.

The petition alleged that the selection criteria outlined in the advertisement directly violated the Odisha Medical Education Service (Method of Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2021, as well as the institute’s own bylaws.

Petitioners Cite Lack of Written Test as Core Violation

One of the key points raised in the petition was the absence of a written examination in the selection process. The advertisement proposed that candidates be evaluated entirely on academic credentials, with 40% weightage given to MBBS marks and 20% to postgraduate scores, specifically for those who completed PG before 2016/2017.

However, Clause 4 of the Odisha Medical Education Service Rules mandates that recruitment to teaching posts, including assistant professors in super-speciality disciplines, must be conducted through a competitive written test.

The petitioners contended that bypassing this requirement undermined the transparency and merit-based nature of public appointments.

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High Court Issues Notices, Seeks Explanation from AHPGIC

Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra, presiding over the vacation bench, took cognisance of the petition and directed the director and dean of AHPGIC to submit reply affidavits within two weeks.

The Court also allowed an additional two weeks for the petitioners to file rejoinders. The matter is now scheduled for a detailed hearing in the week beginning August 4.

Notably, until the next hearing, AHPGIC cannot finalise any appointments for the 17 advertised posts.