HC junks Plea Challenging Appointment of SMS Medical College Principal

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court recently dismissed the plea that challenged the appointment of a doctor as the Principal and Controller of Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Medical College.

This order was issued by the single judge bench of the HC comprising Justice Anand Sharma while hearing the plea filed by Dr. Avtar Singh Dua, who challenged the appointment of Dr. Deepak Maheshwari based on his resignation given in 2016 and the subsequent withdrawal of the same.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that last year, the State Government on Tuesday appointed senior cardiologist Dr Deepak Maheshwari as the acting principal of Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Medical College.

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the Rajasthan Government sought applications for the post of Principal and Controller of SMS Medical College on June 14, 2024. In this process, the petitioner had also participated. However, the State Government selected Dr. Maheshwari for the post.

Consequently, challenging the appointment of Dr. Maheshwari, the petitioner approached the High Court bench. The plea stated that while Dr. Maheshwari is more qualified and better than the petitioner, he resigned from the post on October 21, 2016. Later, Dr. Maheshwari applied to withdraw his resignation and the State Government accepted the withdrawal of resignation and kept him in service. Due to this, the petitioner could not participate in the selection process for the post of Principal.

Objecting to the petition, the counsel for the State Government, Additional Advocate General (AAG) Basant Singh Chaba, also objected to the plea, stating that the petitioner himself participated in the selection process despite knowing that Dr. Maheshwari's resignation was withdrawn. Meanwhile, the petitioner informed the Court that he is working as a Senior Professor.

After taking note of the arguments, the HC bench junked the petition. Justice Sharma observed, "The petitioner participated in the selection process despite knowing the fact that Dr Maheshwari first tendered his resignation and later withdrew it. Now, the petitioner does not have the right to challenge the appointment on grounds which are not related to the selection."

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