Guwahati, Sept. 20: Gauhati High Court has quashed the appointment of Bhabani Prasad Chakravarty as the "in-charge" director of medical education (DME), Assam.

Passing the order, a copy of which was available only yesterday, Justice U. Bhuyan directed the Assam government to fill up the post by following the procedure laid down under the provisions of the Assam Medical Education Service Rules, 2008, and to do it within three months.

According to the service rules, the DME should be appointed through Assam Public Service Commission (APSC).

Chakravarty was appointed vide a government order in April this year when the then DME, Dhrubajyoti Borah, relinquished the post after being elected as the president of Asam Sahitya Sabha.

Two senior doctors, R.C. Deka and R.K. Kalita, had filed a petition in the high court challenging the appointment saying it had violated the Assam Medical Education Service Rules, 2008. Deka and Kalita are contenders for the DME post.

After the rules came into force in 2008, Umesh Chandra Sarma, Debojit Hazarika, Dhrubajyoti Borah and B.P. Chakraborty were appointed DME and of them only Umesh Chandra Sarma was appointed through APSC. The others were appointed as in-charge DME according to orders issued by the health minister as a stopgap arrangement.

The high court said advertisements should be issued inviting applications for the post of DME. The court, in an earlier interim order in this case, had observed, "This is certainly not the procedure prescribed for the appointment of DME under the 2008 Rules."