AIIMS suspends order putting research staff recruitment process on hold

Facing protests by scientists, the AIIMS administration on Monday suspended its earlier order in which it had put the recruitment/selection process of research staff on hold and stated that the guidelines for the same are being reviewed.

Scientists who are all either working in research projects or pursuing PhD at AIIMS under the banner of Society of Young Scientists (SYS) had been protesting against the administration's proposal to cap the number of years one can be employed in projects at the premier medical institute.

AIIMS Faculty Association, Resident Doctors' Association, Nursing Union and The Officers' Association of AIIMS among others had extended support to the protesting scientists.

Revoking its earlier order, an office memorandum (OM) by the AIIMS administration on July 10 said the guidelines for recruitment for project staff are being revised.

"According to inputs from many Principal Investigators (PIs), as a result of this many projects have not been able to function properly. According to the Pls, this has led to disruption of smooth functioning of research projects and research output," the office memorandum issued by AIIMS Director Dr M Srinivas said.

Pls have emphasized that over 1,400 project employees and 665 extramural funded research projects are getting severely affected.

"The SYS has been representing this serious matter regularly since then and this has been also represented as well as endorsed by FAIMS, RDA, AIIMS Nurses Union, Officers Association, UAHP. Hence, till the revised guidelines are received for implementation, the order dated 22nd June, 2023 issued by Research Section may be kept in abeyance," the OM said.

The recruitment interviews for the Project Staff in Research Projects under Research Section had been stopped since June 22 in accordance with orders of competent authority.

The SYS stated that the proposed guidelines cap the number of projects a researcher can take up to three, which they alleged is expected to lead to the immediate termination of around 1,400 employees, including researchers and technical staff employed in various projects at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

It had urged the AIIMS administration to revisit the guidelines, proposed revocation of the memorandum of the research section to hold recruitment until then and suggested that the new guidelines should be implemented prospectively (for new employees only).