Ranchi, Dec. 24: Sharp differences in the Medical Teachers? Association (MTA) of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) today resulted in the association president A.K. Mahto dissolving the body ?with immediate effect?.

Fresh election for the office-bearers of the association is likely to be held in the first week of January, Mahto said. ?The Medical Teachers? Association stands dissolved till the election of the new office-bearers,? Mahto said.

The development is being considered as a result of differences in the association over the Rims governing body?s decision on December 20 to absorb the erstwhile RMCH teachers.

Mahto told The Telegraph that they would not allow any individual to exploit the association for his own advantage.

Trouble started brewing in the association soon after the Rims governing body decision.

The group led by Mahto, a senior teacher, wanted the absorption decision be welcomed and that the teachers should abandon their agitation.

According to them, matters like promotion could be decided in due course of time and as per the rules and regulations.

On the other hand, another faction led by the association secretary Ranjit Singh wanted that first the government should agree to give time-bound promotion, like in the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College (MGM), Jamshedpur.

This group wanted that the absorption be accepted by the association only after that.

At today?s meeting, several doctors, either favoured the secretary?s stand or just out of sheer indifference, did not turn up.

An angry Mahto later said he would not allow any person, particularly someone who never held a teaching assignment in the medical college, or Rims, ?to dictate terms for his personal gains?.

?How can any doctor demand promotion to the post of professor when he has never held a teaching post in this college? Let an inquiry be held,? some doctors told the association president.

The association president had convened a meeting of the general body today to discuss the sensitive issue of individuals giving press statements contrary to the stand taken by the association and issuing letters or documents on behalf of the association under a single signature.

On this issue, Mahto had earlier favoured a simpler decision, which was to inform the director of Rims, chairman of the Rims governing body, and the court that ?no document on behalf of the association be considered valid and legal if it was not signed by both the president and the secretary?.

But as subsequent developments led to the dissolution of the association itself, the decision regarding the validity of a document was set aside.

Today?s development also threw up some important issues.

The doctors felt that the association meetings were deliberately sabotaged so that the absorption gets delayed.