New hiring norms for research staff at AIIMS meet with resistance

AIIMS has now limited the recruitment period to six years, sources said. If implemented, the new rules would make around 1,500 research staffers out of jobs.

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NEW DELHI: The revision of recruitment guidelines for the project staff at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has perturbed all the groups at the premier institute who have now come out in support of the fresh rules the institute has proposed. 

Faculty, scientists, resident doctors and nurses on Thursday, condemned the revision in recruitment rules which would affect individuals who are employed in research projects at the premier institute. This newspaper broke the story about the fresh recruitment rules for research staff which the AIIMS proposed after instructions from the health ministry. The latest unreleased guidelines are apparently framed to duck the court-mandated practice of regularisation of staff employed in research projects.

The rules curtail the number of years one can be employed within the premier institute with a motive to discourage people from seeking regular appointments after a fixed period, which is 15 years as ordered by the Delhi High Court. 

AIIMS has now limited the recruitment period to six years, sources said. If implemented, the new rules would make around 1,500 research staffers out of jobs. Till the time new rules kick in, the institute has stalled new recruitments in research projects.

The Society of Young Scientists (SYS) called the undocumented directive a hasty attempt to abolish the practice of auto-regularization of employees upon completion of 15 years of service at AIIMS.“We have challenged the proposed revisions in their current form, and have demanded that any new guidelines may be implemented prospectively, so as to not negatively affect the project employees currently in service,” the association said.

Meanwhile, the Faculty Association of AIIMS said that the current situation is completely unwarranted and avoidable in the institute where research is one of the core mandates.  “We request you to take urgent action to withdraw this order of stoppage of recruitment process of project staff and have a meeting with all relevant stakeholders before finalising proposed recruitment guidelines of research project staff at AIIMS,” the association said in the support letter.

Resident Doctors’ Association, Nurses Association, Officers association and group of allied healthcare professionals also came out in support.