THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ending months of an administrative logjam at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Dr Jayakumar K has been appointed the director-in-charge of the institution. He is a professor (senior grade) of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery department. His appointment came close on the heels of the decision of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) that the extension of Dr Asha Kishore as the director didn’t stand.
Sources said that the new director-in charge, who started his tenure at the SCTIMST in 2001 through lateral entry, had competed to become a director in 2009 and 2015. He is said to retire in May. Meanwhile, giving signs that the legal battle for the director post will continue, sources close to the former director said that she has filed an appeal with the High Court against the CAT verdict which is expected to be heard this week.
Though Asha’s five-year term as SCTIMST director ended on July 15, she continued in her post, which drew flak from a section of doctors. Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor hit the Twitter platform to extend their support to Asha and alleged that some forces are in operation to topple various research projects which the institute is spearheading.