At a time when the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) that comes under the University of Health Sciences here is grappling with basic problems of providing quality health care and free medicines to patients, its top authorities -- registrar and director -- are fighting a battle for hierarchy.
Dr Chand Singh Dhull, who is director at the premier institute, comes first in the faculty seniority list of the medical college, while Dr Sarla Hooda, who is registrar of the university, comes at fourth place in the seniority list of the medical college. When she performs clinical and teaching jobs, she has to take diktats from the director, while as an administrator in the capacity of registrar she supersedes the director in administrative powers.
Despite being governed by the university Act, the three letters (in possession of HT) from the principal secretary, medical education and research department, Haryana government, instead of coming out with a clear-cut directions on the matter, has added fuel to the fire by coming out with different versions.
A letter dated August 30, 2013, from the principal secretary to the vice-chancellor, has said the director was superior to the registrar and it had inadvertently been indicated previously that registrar supersedes him. Further, it said, now there is no confusion in the hierarchy of the administration, only the vice-chancellor and pro vice-chancellor are above the director and the latter is superior to the registrar.
{{/usCountry}}A letter dated August 30, 2013, from the principal secretary to the vice-chancellor, has said the director was superior to the registrar and it had inadvertently been indicated previously that registrar supersedes him. Further, it said, now there is no confusion in the hierarchy of the administration, only the vice-chancellor and pro vice-chancellor are above the director and the latter is superior to the registrar.
{{/usCountry}}As per the second correspondence on December 4, 2013, from the principal secretary to vice-chancellor, in supersession of the government memo August 15, 2013, and August 30, 2013, the government has reconsidered the matter and decided that the protocol/hierarchy/seniority clearly mentioned under section 12 of University of Health Sciences Act, 2008, should be followed. According to the university Act, the registrar supersedes the director.
Interestingly, another letter was issued on December 6, 2013, from the government, which stated that the letters issued on dates mentioned above are hereby withdrawn.
Sources said ever since the inception of the University of Health Sciences, the friction between these two top authorities has been going on and the issue of purchase of monitors of ventilators for the Intensive Care Unit has been pending for the past more than two years. Others said due to lack of co-ordination and friction between the two functionaries, other works had been affected, which otherwise could have accelerated the progress of the institution.
University vice-chancellor Dr SS Sangwan could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.