Patna: The high court on Saturday sought a reply from the Centre on recruitment of doctors at AIIMS-Patna.

The division bench of Chief Justice Mukesh R. Shah and Justice Ravi Ranjan passed the order on a public interest litigation filed by Janhit Abhiyan. The PIL alleged that doctors' recruitment at AIIMS Patna was not done on valid grounds and prescribed rules were not followed.

Ashhar Mustafa, the petitioner's counsel, told the court that in 2013 the Arya Committee was formed to look into the matter of appointment of doctors at the various All India Institutes of Medical Sciences across the nation, including Patna. It found appointments not been made according to the necessary qualifications and invalid in nature.

The committee report was sent to the central government with recommendations for actions to be initiated against the errant officials and the doctors appointed on invalid grounds to be removed.

Based on that, notices were served on doctors of AIIMS Patna seeking replies on their appointments. The bench of Chief Justice Shah on Saturday also sought the Centre's reply on steps it was taking to implement recommendations of the Arya Committee.

The bench directed the central government to file its reply by August 28.